Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Adiponectin is known to be associated with anti-atherosclerotic mechanisms. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) has been shown to correlate well with general atherosclerotic status. It also reflects the cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes. Plasma adiponectin levels were found to be lower in patients with atherosclerotic arterial disease. Decreased plasma adiponectin levels have also been reported in type 2 diabetes and were inversely related to insulin resistance. Some studies have also reported a negativelysignificant correlation between adiponectin and carotid IMT, as a marker of atherosclerosis, in patients with type-2 diabetes and suggested that increased carotid IMT in those patients may, in part, be explained by lower plasma adiponectin. But these studies included obese and non-obese patients in the study group and it is not clear to what extent the relationship between plasma adiponectin and carotid IMT could be explained by other risk factors associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome. A group of 112 non-obese Egyptian patients with type 2 diabetes in addition to 40 age, sex and weight matched normal Egyptian subjects had assessment of their plasma adiponectin and carotid IMT. A non-significant inverse correlation was found between plasma adiponectin and carotid IMT in the study group. Multiple regression analysis revealed that plasma adiponectin was not a determinant of carotid IMT in those patients. These results point to the fact that the previously-reported inverse relation between plasma adiponectin and carotid IMT in type 2 diabetes could be explained, at least partially, by obesity.

Biography

Email: aasemsaif@yahoo.com