A longitudinal analysis on associations of adiponectin levels with metabolic syndrome and carotid artery intima-media thickness. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

OBJECTIVE: Adipose-tissue derived adiponectin has gained a lot of interest as a marker of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study was to assess whether adiponectin levels in young adults predict the incidence of MetS after 6-year follow-up. To gain insight on the interrelations between MetS, adiponectin and cardiovascular risk, we also examined the associations of adiponectin and carotid atherosclerosis according to MetS status. METHODS: This analysis was part of a population-based, longitudinal cohort study conducted among 1693 Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study individuals (age 31.9 ± 4.9 years in 2001) participating in follow-ups in 2001 and 2007. RESULTS: In a multivariable model adjusted for age, sex, MetS components, LDL-cholesterol, CRP, insulin, leptin, smoking and family history of coronary disease, 1-unit increase in baseline adiponectin levels was associated with reduced odds (odds ratio [OR]=0.94, 95% CI 0.89-0.99, P=0.04) of incident MetS. Of the MetS components, adiponectin levels were inversely associated with the incidence of hyperglycemia in multivariable analyses (OR=0.94 (0.90-0.99), P=0.04). When studying the adiponectin×MetS interaction on IMT, we observed a significant interaction when examining IMT in 2001 (r=-0.11 (MetS(-)) vs. r=-0.17 (MetS(+)), P for interaction 0.047) and IMT in 2007 (r=-0.12 (MetS(-)) vs. r=-0.21 (MetS(+)), P for interaction 0.005), suggesting the inverse association between adiponectin and IMT is stronger among those with MetS. CONCLUSIONS: Among young adults, high adiponectin levels were associated with decreased incidence of MetS. Moreover, our data suggest that individuals with MetS are more vulnerable to the proatherogenic effects of low adiponectin levels.