Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The MS is a cluster of metabolic risk factors which are closely associated with insulin resistance and hypoadiponectinemia. The HMW adiponectin has been acknowledged as a predictive marker for MS. The prevalence of MS increases worldwide. Recently, the prevalence of MS among Estonian adults was estimated to be 26%. In the current study, we aimed to compare the utility of HMW adiponectin and HOMA-IR for the identification of MS.

Methods: Our study was a cross-sectional, population-based sample of the general population in Estonia aged 20–74 years and included 458 subjects (191 men). MS was diagnosed by National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Insulin resistance was estimated using the HOMA-IR. HMW adiponectin was measured by ELISA. The areas under the receiver operator characteristic curves (AUROC) were calculated to compare the ability of HMW adiponectin and HOMA-IR to identify subjects with MS.

Results: The median (interquartile range) HMW adiponectin level (μg/ml) was significantly lower among subjects with MS compared with subjects without MS in both genders: in men 2.1 (1.3–3.0) vs 2.8 (1.7–4.3) respectively (P=0.002) and in women 3.1 (2.1–4.8) vs 5.1 (3.5–6.9), respectively (P=0.0001). Subjects with MS had significantly higher HOMA-IR (±S.D.) compared with subjects without MS: 2.9±2.0 vs 1.1±1.0, respectively (P=0.0001). The AUROC for HMW adiponectin and HOMA-IR to predict the presence of MS were in men 0.64 vs 0.864 respectively (P=0.0001) and in women 0.702 vs 0.839 respectively (P=0.0008). After adjustment for age and BMI the AUROC for HMW adiponectin and HOMA-IR were in men 0.833 vs 0.88 respectively (P=0.02) and in women 0.897 vs 0.907, respectively (P=0.5).

Conclusions: The lower HMW adiponectin level and higher HOMA-IR are clearly associated with MS. HOMA-IR was superior to HMW adiponectin to predict the presence of MS in Estonian adult population.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details unavailable.