Serum adipokine levels in patients with type 1 diabetes are associated with degree of obesity but only resistin is independently associated with atherosclerosis markers.

PURPOSE

The role of adipokines in causing inflammation and insulin resistance in normal weight and obese patients is generally well studied. However, there are often conflicting results regarding their levels in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients and their relationship to micro- and macrovascular disease. We therefore investigated which serum adipokine levels are independently associated with markers of early atherosclerosis and microvascular complications in patients with T1DM.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was performed in the Diabetes Outpatient Clinic of Hippokrateion General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. Sixty T1DM patients (30 females, mean age 38.8 ± 10.6 years, mean diabetes duration 17.4 ± 9.9 years) were included. Plasma adiponectin, leptin, and resistin, carotid artery intima media thickness (cIMT), and arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity, PWV/SpygmoCor CP System and Mobil-O-Graph 24 h PWA) were assessed.

RESULTS

Leptin and resistin levels were significantly higher in overweight and obese patients (p = 0.002 and p = 0.039, respectively). Adiponectin was the only adipokine negatively correlated with BMI (r =  - 0.41, p = 0.001). We report a bivariate association between serum adiponectin levels and retinopathy (p = 0.007). Resistin was the only adipokine that showed significant correlation with systolic (r = 0.42, p = 0.001) and diastolic (r = 0.29, p = 0.024) hypertension and PWV (p = 0.035).

CONCLUSIONS

Serum adipokine levels demonstrate similar bivariate associations with anthropometric variables in patients with T1DM to those in normal weight subjects. Although microvascular complications are associated with serum adipokine levels by bivariate analysis, only resistin, an inflammatory marker, is independently associated with arterial stiffness in patients with T1DM.