Hypoadiponectinemia is associated with prehypertension in obese individuals of multiethnic origin

Abstract

Background: Considering that prehypertension is associated with an increase in cardiovascular risk, hypoadiponectinemia seems to be a predictor of hypertension. Hypothesis: This study investigated whether adiponectin plasma levels are affected in Brazilian obese prehypertensives compared with those in normotensives and hypertensives. Methods: The study involved 96 multiethnic obese subjects (mean age= 42.8-11.9 years; BMI=35.7-7.3 kg/m2). Fasting plasma adiponectin and serum insulin were determined by radioimmunoassay. Insulin resistance was estimated by HOMA-IR. Blood pressure was recorded using a calibrated automated sphygmomanometer. Results: Adiponectin concentrations were significantly lower in prehypertensives compared with those in normotensives, but hypertensives exhibited the lowest adiponectin concentrations of all. Regarding the values of HOMA-IR, both prehypertensives and hypertensives were significantly more insulin resistant when compared with normotensives. When normotensives and prehypertensives were classified according to the 50th percentile of adiponectin (≤ vs > 6.5 mg/ml) a logistic regression was performed to estimate the association of this adipokine with hypertension, the lower the plasma adiponectin values, the greater the association. A multivariate linear regression analysis adjusted for cardiometabolic factors showed that systolic blood pressure increased by 1.612 mm Hg for 1 μg/mL reduction in adiponectin plasma levels (P<0.01). Conclusion: Our findings have shown that hypoadiponectinemia is associated with prehypertension in obese individuals of multiethnic origin. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.