High serum adiponectin is noted in several conditions of chronic kidney disease (cKD) and is a predictor for end stage renal disease. However, the relationship between adiponectin level and renal disease progression is not well established. this study aimed to determine the relationship between serum adiponectin levels and CKD progression. This prospective longitudinal study included 2238 patients from the Korean cohort Study for outcomes in patients with chronic Kidney Disease. patients were divided into quartiles according to their serum adiponectin level. Composite renal outcome was defined as one or more of the following: initiation of dialysis or transplantation, a twofold increase in baseline serum creatinine levels, or a 50% decline in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) during the follow-up period. A cox proportional hazard ratio model was applied to analyze the relationship between composite renal outcome and serum adiponectin levels. Serum adiponectin level was inversely associated with eGFR (p < 0.001) and positively correlated with urine albumin-creatinine ratio. The highest quartile of serum adiponectin was associated with an increased risk of adverse renal outomes (HR, 1.39; 95%CI, 1.05-1.84; p=0.021). On time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, predictive ability of adiponectin for renal outcomes disappeared after adjusting for eGFR. therefore, serum adiponectin may be a biomarker of renal dysfunction rather than a true risk factor in cKD progression. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public burden, with rising global prevalence 1. There is an urgent need to identify factors that may predict and prevent CKD progression. Adiponectin is a peptide hormone secreted from adipocytes, with anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anti-atherogenic properties 2,3. Low serum levels of adiponectin have been associated with obesity, insulin resistance, coronary heart disease, and metabolic syndrome in the general population 4-6. Paradoxically, serum adiponectin levels are elevated in patients with CKD and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) 7. Moreover, high serum adiponectin levels were associated with increased mortality in patients with stage 3 or 4 CKD in the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) study 8. High serum adiponectin predicts all-cause mortality and ESRD in type 1 diabetics 9,10 and is associated with increased albuminuria in CKD patients 11. High adiponectin has been found to predict renal disease progression in men with CKD, but not in women 12. Adiponectin has also been markedly increased in patients with nephrotic syndrome 13 and essential hypertension 14. However, in a study, transgenic upregulation of adiponectin in CKD mice prevented renal injury 15. Hypoadiponectinemia is also independently associated with the presence of metabolic syndrome, which is a risk factor for CKD 16. In addition, most research regarding adiponectin has been conducted in relatively small populations with a limited number of patients with type 1 diabetes 9 or obesity 17. Th...