Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Adiponectin is an important adipokine to which have been attributed anti-diabetic and anti-atherogenic properties. Excess of abdominal fat deposition is undoubtedly assumed as a cardiometabolic risk factor. It has been hypothesized that peripheral deposition of fat could exert a protective effect in cardiometabolic profile.

Aims: To evaluate the influence of anthropometric parameters on adiponectin levels in both obese and normal-weight premenopausal women.

Methods: We studied 80 obese (age=34.3±8.2 years, BMI=43.1±8.5 kg/m², waist=117.8±15.7 cm, hip=133.4±14.3 cm, waist:hip ratio (WHR)=0.88±0.07 cm, percentual total body fat (%TBF)=47.4±5.3%) and 57 normal-weight pre-menopausal women (age=36±7.5 years, BMI=21.5±1.8 kg/m², waist=71.4±5.9 cm, hip=96.9±4.7 cm, waist:hip ratio (WHR)=0.74±0.05 cm, percentual total body fat (%TBF)=25.2±4.6%). In each group, we looked for the correlation between adiponectin and each anthropometric parameter; we also tested the influence of the several possible parameters’ combinations on adiponectin levels.

Results: Adiponectin levels were significantly lower in the obese group (P<0.001). Adiponectin were inversely associated with waist (P=0.008; r=−0.293), WHR (P<0.001; r=−0.483) and %TBF (P=0.034; r=−0.237) in the obese women and with waist (P=0.007; r=−0.355) and WHR (P=0.001; r=−0.441) in the normal-weight group. Despite the absence of significance, hip circumference and adiponectin values showed concordance in their variation. The stronger combination of 2 anthropometric parameters for the association with adiponectin levels was WHR+%TBF in obese (r=0.511) as in non-obese (r=0.468). The stronger combination of 3 parameters was WHR+hip+%TBF (r=0.532) in obese and waist+hip+%TBF (r=0.523) in normal-weight. In the normal-weight, but not in the obese group, a greater power of association with adiponectin levels was obtained with the combination waist+hip+WHR+%TBF (r=0.558) and BMI+waist+hip+WHR+%TBF (r=0.57).

Conclusions: There is an inverse association between abdominal fat and adiponectin levels in both obese and normal-weight premenopausal women. In both groups, when we use parameters that take into account the amount of peripheral fat mass we increase the level of prediction for adiponectin levels.