Low Serum Adiponectin Predicts Future Risk for Asthma in Women

Abstract

Rationale: Our previous cross-sectional study showed that serum adiponectin is inversely associated with asthma among women. However, it is not known if serum adiponectin predicts future development of asthma or if asthma affects subsequent serum adiponectin concentrations among women. Objectives: To determine longitudinal association between serum adiponectin and incident asthma among women. Methods: We used data from examinations at Years 10, 15, and 20 of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) cohort. In our primary analysis, the association of CARDIA Year 15 serum adiponectin concentration with Year 20 incident asthma was evaluated. In our secondary analysis, the converse direction, that is, the association of CARDIA Year 10 prevalent asthma with Year 15 serum adiponectin, was evaluated, using logistic regression techniques. Measurements and Main Results: Our primary analysis included 1,450 women, mostly premenopausal. Multivariable analyses demonstrated that the lowest tertile of Year 15 serum adiponectin concentration (,7 mg/L) predicted significantly higher risk for incident asthma at Year 20 among women (odds ratio, 2.07; 95% confidence interval, 1.05, 4.10), and particularly among current smokers (interaction P ¼ 0.051). Further, low serum adiponectin was more important than body mass index in predicting the risk for incident asthma among women. We also showed that the converse relationship was not true; that is, Year 10 prevalent asthma did not predict Year 15 serum adiponectin concentrations in women. Conclusions: Serum adiponectin affects future risk for asthma in women and not vice versa. Measures that raise systemic adiponectin concentrations may lead to newer ways to prevent asthma among women, particularly among those who smoke.Keywords: incident asthma; obesity; adiponectin; adipokine; women In 2005, more than 21 million people in the United States were estimated to be affected by asthma, amounting to 7.6% of the total population (1). Between 1980 and 1996, the prevalence of, and morbidity trends related to, asthma increased in the United States (2, 3). It is now well established that asthma is related to adiposity, particularly among women. Adipokines, proteins produced by adipose tissue, may regulate systemic inflammation and play a role in asthma (4-7). Adiponectin is one such adipokine with predominantly antiinflammatory effects. Adiponectin inhibits proinflammatory cytokines and endothelial adhesion molecules and induces antiinflammatory cytokines (8-11). Further, adiponectin regulates the proliferation and function of inflammatory cells including NK cells and T lymphocytes (12, 13).Although visceral adipocytes are the most important source of adiponectin, serum adiponectin concentrations are reduced in obese subjects (14,15). One possible explanation is that hypoxia-related necrosis of adipocytes activates macrophages in obese subjects (16). These activated macrophages produce tumor necrosis factor-a and IL-6, which in turn may directly inhibit the local production o...

Body Mass Index Is a Stronger Predictor than the Metabolic Syndrome for Future Asthma in Women. The Longitudinal CARDIA Study

“…Inflammatory effects of obesity on the lung involve dysregulation of proinflammatory adipokines (e.g., excess leptin) and antiinflammatory adipokines (e.g., adiponectin deficiency). Excess systemic leptin and low systemic adiponectin are both linked to asthma prevalence, incidence, and severity in specific populations (18)(19)(20)(21)(22). Furthermore, several diseases that coexist with obesity have also been linked to asthma prevalence or severity.…”

Association of serum adiponectin with asthma and pulmonary function in the Japanese population

“…However, in the previous study [35], when they analyzed the multivariate regression analysis, they treated the LMW adiponectin level as a dependent variable and the presence or absence of asthma episodes as an independent variable, respectively, and showed that the regression coefficient was 0.098 (SE, 0.033; P = 0.004), suggesting that LMW adiponectin was positively correlated with a history of asthma episodes. In other words, we believe that their results show that LMW adiponectin was higher among subjects with a history of asthma episodes than among To date, although several reports have examined the correlation between asthma and serum adiponectin levels, these studies have measured only the total adiponectin level and have not investigated the association between asthma and the various isoforms of adiponectin (HMW, MMW and LMW) [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. To the best of our knowledge, only one group has recently examined the associations between the three adiponectin isoforms (HMW, MMW, and LMW) and asthma episodes among male university students who had suffered episodes of asthma in the past but were not receiving medication for asthma at the time of examination; the authors reported that LMW adiponectin was significantly associated with a history of asthma episodes [35].…”

“…We also enrolled another cohort conducted between adiponectin levels reportedly predicted a future risk of asthma in women in a longitudinal study, after adjusting for BMI [9]. On the other hand, in men, higher serum adiponectin concentrations may be independently associated with an adverse clinical outcome of asthma [10].…”

Low-molecular-weight adiponectin is more closely associated with episodes of asthma than high-molecular-weight adiponectin

“…It is possible that MMW and/ or LMW adiponectin are related to chronic inflammation. Sood et al also confirmed a unidirectional association of serum adiponectin to incident asthma among females, not males [19]. However, it was considered that the result of the association in males had not been uniformed because they measured only total or HMW adiponectin.…”