OBJECTIVE

To test the association of regional fat depots with circulating adiponectin and resistin concentrations and to assess the potential mediating effect of adipokines on associations between abdominal fat depots and cardiometabolic risk factors.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Participants from the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort (n = 916, 55% women; mean age 59 years) free of cardiovascular disease underwent computed tomography measurement of visceral adipose tissue (VAT), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), pericardial fat, and intrathoracic fat volumes and assays of circulating adiponectin and resistin.

RESULTS

VAT, SAT, pericardial fat, and intrathoracic fat were negatively correlated with adiponectin (r = -0.19 to -0.34, P < 0.001 [women]; r = -0.15 to -0.26, P < 0.01 [men] except SAT) and positively correlated with resistin (r = 0.16-0.21, P < 0.001 [women]; r = 0.11-0.14, P < 0.05 [men] except VAT). VAT increased the multivariable model R(2) for adiponectin from 2-4% to 10-13% and for resistin from 3-4% to 3-6%. Adjustment for adipokines did not fully attenuate associations between VAT, SAT, and cardiometabolic risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Adiponectin and resistin are correlated with fat depots cross-sectionally, but none of the adipokines can serve as surrogates for the fat depots. Relations between VAT, SAT, and cardiometabolic risk factors were not fully explained by adiponectin or resistin concentrations.