Associations of Circulating Adiponectin with Measures of Vascular Function and Morphology

Context: Some previous studies have reported an association between circulating adiponectin and selected measures of vascular function and morphology, but most of these studies have been performed in small samples of patients with preexisting disease. Objective: We aimed to evaluate associations between circulating adiponectin and comprehensive measures of vascular function and morphology in a large sample of individuals from the community. Design, Settings, and Participants: We conducted a cross-sectional investigation of 981 70-yr-old participants (50% women) of the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors (PIVUS). Main Outcome Measures: Measures of outcome included vascular function [common carotid artery (CCA) distensibility, flow-mediated dilation, endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilation using invasive methods] and vascular morphology [intima-media (IM) thickness, plaque presence, gray scale median (GSM) in the IM and plaques]. Results: In age- and sex-adjusted models, adiponectin was positively associated with IM-GSM, plaque GSM, CCA distensibility, endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilation. In multivariable models (with additional adjustment for body mass index; systolic blood pressure; antihypertensive, antidiabetic, and lipid-lowering medication; fasting blood glucose; total cholesterol; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; creatinine; and smoking), adiponectin remained positively associated with IM-GSM [β = 2.06; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54, 3.58], plaque GSM (β = 3.11; 95% CI, 0.36, 5.86), and CCA distensibility (β = 0.04; 95% CI, 0.00, 0.07). Conclusions: Serum levels of adiponectin were positively associated with IM-GSM and plaque GSM (indicating lower fat content in the IM and plaques) and CCA distensibility (indicating higher wall elasticity), independent of potential confounders. Our results imply that adiponectin is associated with less arterial pathology.