Impact of Regular Physical Activity on Adipocytokines and Cardiovascular Characteristics in Spinal Cord-Injured Subjects.

Objective: To investigate the relationship of carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and cardiac structure and function with adipocytokines in sedentary (S-SCI) and physically active (PA-SCI) subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Participants: Men with chronic (>1y) SCI (N=41; 16 S-SCI, 25 PA-SCI) were evaluated. S-SCI subjects did not perform labor that required physical effort, recreational physical activity, or sports, while PA-SCI subjects included competing athletes who were regularly performing adapted sports.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: Clinical, laboratory, carotid ultrasonography, and echocardiography analysis. Plasma leptin, adiponectin, and plasminogen activating inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) levels were determined.

Results: PA-SCI subjects had similar levels of adipocytokines, but lower carotid IMT and carotid IMT/diameter, and better left ventricular diastolic function than S-SCI participants. Bivariate analysis showed that adiponectin was inversely correlated with triglycerides (r=-.85, P<.001), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r=-.57, P<.05), and carotid IMT/diameter (r=-.56, P<.05) in S-SCI but not in PA-SCI participants. Additionally, the leptin-adiponectin ratio showed a direct correlation with triglycerides (r=.84, P<.001) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r=.53, P<.05) in S-SCI but not in PA-SCI individuals. By contrast, the studied adipocytokines did not correlate with cardiac structure and function in PA-SCI and S-SCI participants.

Conclusions: Lower adiponectin levels and higher leptin-adiponectin ratio are related to adverse vascular and/or metabolic characteristics in individuals with SCI. This relationship, however, appears to be mitigated by regular physical activity.