Division of Family Medicine, Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Department of Family Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, Taiwan.
BMC Geriatr. 2021 Jul 27;21(1):442. doi: 10.1186/s12877-021-02379-4.
Adiponectin and zinc alpha2-glycoprotein (ZAG) are associated with frailty. This study aims to further examine the association of adiponectin with ZAG.
Outpatients aged 65 years or older with chronic disease followed up in a hospital-based program were recruited for a comprehensive geriatric assessment. We excluded outpatients who were bedridden, residing in a nursing home, with expected life expectancy less than 6 months, or with severe hearing or communication impairment. Plasma ZAG and adiponectin levels were measured. Association between plasma ZAG and adiponectin levels was analyzed by univariate and multivariable linear regression analyses.
A total of 189 older adults were enrolled (91 men and 98 women, mean age: 77.2 ± 6.1 years). Log-transformed plasma ZAG level was 1.82 ± 0.11 μg/mL, and it was significantly higher in men than that in women (1.85 ± 0.12 vs 1.79 ± 0.10 μg/mL, P = .0006). Log-transformed plasma adiponectin level was 1.00 ± 0.26 μg/mL, and there was no significant gender difference (P = .195). Overall, plasma ZAG level positively correlated with plasma adiponectin level in the multivariable linear regression analysis (P = .0085). The gender-specific significance, however, was less clear: this relationship was significant in men (P = .0049) but not in women (P = .2072). To be more specific by frailty phenotype components, plasma adiponectin was positively correlated with weight loss (P = .0454) and weakness (P = .0451).
Both of ZAG and adiponectin may be potential frailty biomarkers. Plasma ZAG is an independent factor of plasma adiponectin, especially in older male adults.
脂联素和锌-α2-糖蛋白（ZAG）与虚弱有关。本研究旨在进一步探讨脂联素与 ZAG 的关系。
我们招募了在医院为基础的项目中接受慢性病治疗的年龄在 65 岁或以上的门诊患者进行全面老年评估。我们排除了卧床不起、居住在养老院、预期寿命少于 6 个月或有严重听力或沟通障碍的门诊患者。测量了血浆 ZAG 和脂联素水平。通过单变量和多变量线性回归分析来分析血浆 ZAG 和脂联素水平之间的关系。
共纳入 189 名老年人（91 名男性和 98 名女性，平均年龄：77.2±6.1 岁）。对数转换后的血浆 ZAG 水平为 1.82±0.11μg/mL，男性显著高于女性（1.85±0.12 比 1.79±0.10μg/mL，P=0.0006）。对数转换后的血浆脂联素水平为 1.00±0.26μg/mL，男女之间无显著差异（P=0.195）。总体而言，在多变量线性回归分析中，血浆 ZAG 水平与血浆脂联素水平呈正相关（P=0.0085）。然而，这种关系在性别特异性上并不明显：这种关系在男性中具有统计学意义（P=0.0049），但在女性中没有统计学意义（P=0.2072）。更具体地说，根据虚弱表型成分，血浆脂联素与体重减轻（P=0.0454）和虚弱（P=0.0451）呈正相关。
ZAG 和脂联素都可能是潜在的虚弱生物标志物。血浆 ZAG 是血浆脂联素的一个独立因素，特别是在老年男性中。
