Altered relationship between body fat and plasma adiponectin in end-stage renal disease

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) show an inverse association between body mass index and risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Paradoxical epidemiology may suggest some beneficial effects of body fat in ESRD. Because an antiatherogenic adipocytokine adiponectin is increased in uremic plasma, we tested a hypothesis that, in ESRD, plasma adipocytokine profile may be less atherogenic or that the relationship between body fat and adipocytokines may be altered. The subjects were 103 patients with ESRD undergoing hemodialysis and 166 healthy subjects comparable in age and sex. We measured body fat mass by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and plasma levels of adiponectin and leptin by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The ESRD group showed a significant increase in plasma adiponectin, leptin, and adiponectin/leptin ratio than the healthy subjects. Although sex and fat mass were significant factors correlating with plasma adiponectin level in the healthy group, none of these were significantly associated with plasma adiponectin in the patients with ESRD. In contrast, leptin showed significant relationships with sex and fat mass regardless of the presence of ESRD. Plasma adiponectin correlated negatively with plasma triglycerides and positively with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in both healthy and ESRD groups, suggesting that uremic adiponectin retains its actions in favor of its antiatherogenicity. Thus, plasma adipocytokine profile was altered in ESRD, and the effects of body fat and sex on adiponectin were less significant in the patients with ESRD.