Design: The aim of this study was to determine the association between aging and adiponectin level from the aspect of the influence of renal function and sex hormones in humans. Methods: Serum adiponectin and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels were measured in 964 subjects (372 males) aged 60.3^12.5 years. Testosterone and free testosterone levels were measured in 123 males, and estrone and estradiol levels were measured in 114 females. The subjects were divided into two age groups; 65 years of age or older (Age $65 group) and less than 65 years of age (Age , 65 group). Results: Adiponectin level increased linearly with aging in males, whereas it increased dramatically in females until their 50s. The patterns of changes in adiponectin were similar to those in BUN. In multiple-regression analysis using adiponectin as a dependent variable BUN was selected as a significant independent variable in all subjects and in subjects in the Age $ 65 group, whereas bioactive sex hormones were not selected. Conclusions: A decrease in adiponectin clearance in the kidney may be the cause of high levels of adiponectin in the elderly. Adiponectin level seems to be influenced more strongly by BUN than by sex hormones and to be increased by a decline in renal function with aging. European Journal of Endocrinology 153 91-98

OBJECTIVE -Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), as an indicator of atherosclerosis in impaired fasting glucose (IFG), was studied in 232 subjects randomly selected from inhabitants of two rural communities in Japan.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -BMI, systolic blood pressure (SBP), fasting blood glucose (FBS), lipid parameters, ankle brachial pressure index (ABI), and baPWV were measured in each subject. ABI and baPWV were measured using the recently developed device, form ABI/PWV. The subjects were divided into three groups according FBS level: a normal group consisting of subjects with FBS Ͻ110 mg/dl, an IFG group consisting of subjects with FBS 110 -125 mg/dl, and a diabetic group consisting of subjects with FBS Ն126 mg/dl and subjects taking hypoglycemic agents. The parameters in the three groups were compared.RESULTS -It was found that the baPWV value increased with increasing plasma glucose level. Significant differences were found between the baPWV values in the normal and IFG groups (1,518 vs. 1,673 cm/s, P ϭ 0.01) and in the normal and diabetic groups (1,518 vs. 1,771 cm/s, P Ͻ 0.0001). The results of multiple regression analysis showed that FBS was closely related to baPWV as well as to age and SBP. CONCLUSIONS -The relationship between IFG and atherosclerosis remains controversial. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether strict control of blood glucose level in patients with IFG will result in the prevention of atherosclerosis progression. Diabetes Care 26:437-440, 2003M uch interest has been shown over the past few decades in aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) as a noninvasive method for assessing atherosclerosis, and there have been many recent reports on PWV and the development of atherosclerotic disease (1-4). In this study, we investigated the usefulness of PWV as an indicator of early-stage atherosclerosis in impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in inhabitants of two rural communities in Japan by using a new device for measuring PWV.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -The subjects included 232 men (mean age 65.2 Ϯ 9.5 years) selected from 1,479 inhabitants of the towns of Tanno and Sobetsu in Hokkaido who underwent medical examinations in 2000. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure, BMI, and levels of fasting blood glucose (FBS), HbA 1c , total cholesterol, triglyceride, and HDL were measured in all subjects. Bilateral brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) was measured in all subjects using a new device, form ABI/ PWV (BP-203RPE; Nihon Colin).Form ABI/PWV is a device with four cuffs that can simultaneously measure blood pressure levels in both arms and both legs and automatically calculate the ankle brachial pressure index (ABI). This device can also record pulse waves by sensors in the cuffs, store data on the start point of each pulse wave in the right arm and both legs in memory, record the time difference between transmission time to arm and transmission time to ankle as "transmission time," calculate the transmission distance from the right arm to each ankle according to body height, and...

Results of a 6-year follow-up study were used to determine whether the concept of and the criteria for met-

We assessed the amount of visceral fat using ultrasonography (US) and studied its relationship to cardiovascular disease risk factors, particularly blood pressure. The subjects in the first study were 45 male and 61 female outpatients. We measured the visceral fat area (VFA) of each subject using abdominal CT and waist circumference (WC), and visceral fat distance (VFD) using US. The subjects in the second study were 353 male and 457 female inhabitants of a rural community, for whom VFD and WC were measured. We divided subjects into tertiles based on VFD and WC, and studied the relationship between each group and individual risk factors. In an analysis of outpatient subjects, the correlation coefficient between VFA and VFD was satisfactory: r =0.660 for men and r =0.643 for women. In the analysis of the rural subjects, the high VFD group had a significantly higher odds ratio than the low VFD group in high blood pressure (

No abstract