Association between Adiponectin Concentrations and Cardiovascular Disease in Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: This systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies evaluates the association between adiponectin concentrations and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: PubMed and Embase were searched for prospective studies on the association of adiponectin concentrations and risk of CVD up to June 2013. Random-effect model was selected to pool the relative risk (RR) and 95% CI. Results: Five prospective cohort studies and one nested case-control studies met the included criterion. The estimated summary RR and 95% CI of five prospective cohort studies for type 2 diabetes comparing top vs low tertile of adiponectin concentrations was 0.99 (95% CI: 0.67-1.45), with significant heterogeneity between studies (p = 0.037, I-2 = 60.9%). This heterogeneity was explained by one study conducted in Korean. Conclusions: This study represents the first meta-analysis between adiponectin levels and CVD in diabetic patients and indicated no association was found. This result should be verified further by large sample size, long duration of follow-up, and well-designed prospective clinical trials.