Circulating adiponectin: associations with risk factors and the Reynolds risk score in women without prior major cardiovascular events.

Objective: Adiponectin may play an important role in the interplay between metabolic changes and cardiovascular risks. Our aim was to establish if plasma adiponectin can be used to detect the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in women without a history of major cardiovascular events and to evaluate its correlation with the global cardiovascular risk expressed by the Reynolds risk score (RRS).

Methods: 148 consecutive women without a history of cardiovascular events with or without MetS have been investigated. Clinical risks factors as well as plasma levels of lipids, fasting glucose and adiponectin were determined.

Results: As expected, circulating adiponectin was lower in women with MetS: 26.8 +/- 20.4 versus 44.3 +/- 26.7 microg/ml (p < 0.001) and inversely related to the number of MetS features (r = -0.33, p < 0.001). The latter was further associated with the total cardiovascular risk calculated using RRS (r = 0.49, p < 0.001). However, there was no relationship between circulating adiponectin and this score (r = -0.14, p = NS).

Conclusions: Plasma adiponectin levels are significantly lower in women with MetS, but as a stand-alone tool plasma adiponectin may be of little value in the diagnosis MetS. Circulating adiponectin levels are not associated with the global cardiovascular risk calculated using RRS.