Leptin, but not adiponectin, is a predictor of recurrent cardiovascular events in men: results from the LIPID study.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationships between plasma leptin and adiponectin levels and recurrent cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction and stroke) in men with earlier acute coronary syndromes.

DESIGN, SUBJECTS AND MEASUREMENTS: A nested case-control study examined circulating leptin and adiponectin levels in plasma obtained 4-6 years after entry into the Long-Term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) trial. Plasma was assayed from 184 men who suffered recurrent events within 4.4 years after blood collection and 184 matched controls who remained free of further events. The association between cardiovascular events and the explanatory variables was examined by conditional logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Relative risk (RR) increased across increasing leptin quartiles; the highest quartile compared with the lowest quartile was related to the highest risk (P for trend=0.002); the increased risk remained after adjustment for risk factors (P=0.018) or for obesity (P=0.038), but in the final model (adjusted for randomized treatment, other drugs, LIPID risk score, age and body mass index), the risk was attenuated (RR=1.61, 95% CI: 0.72-3.57, P for trend=0.34). Adiponectin did not predict cardiovascular events. Subjects randomly allocated to pravastatin had 6% lower leptin levels (P=0.04) than those allocated to placebo.

CONCLUSION

Plasma leptin was a significant and independent predictor of recurrent cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction and stroke) in men with earlier acute coronary syndromes.