Hypoadiponectinemia is associated with aortic stiffness in nondialysis diabetic patients with stage 3-5 chronic kidney disease.

Objectives: Albuminuria and serum adiponectin levels are factors that have been associated with the development of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes mellitus. Here we investigated the relationship between serum adiponectin levels and aortic stiffness in nondialysis diabetic kidney disease patients with stage 3-5 chronic kidney disease.

Methods: Fasting blood samples were obtained from 80 nondialysis diabetic kidney disease patients with stage 3-5 chronic kidney disease. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) was measured using applanation tonometry; cfPWV values of >10 m/s were defined as aortic stiffness. Serum adiponectin levels were determined by enzyme immunoassay.

Results: Forty-two patients (52.5%) with nondialysis diabetic kidney disease were diagnosed with aortic stiffness. The patients in this group were older (=0.011), had higher systolic blood pressure (=0.002) and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratios (=0.013), included fewer females (=0.024), and had lower serum adiponectin (=0.001) levels than those in the control group. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that serum adiponectin was independently associated with aortic stiffness (odds ratio = 0.930, 95% confidence interval: 0.884-0.978, =0.005) and also positively correlated with cfPWV values by multivariable linear regression ( = -0.309, =0.002) in nondialysis diabetic kidney disease patients.

Conclusions: The results suggested that serum adiponectin levels could be used to predict aortic stiffness in nondialysis diabetic kidney disease patients with stage 3-5 chronic kidney disease.