Serum adiponectin and coronary heart disease risk in older Black and White Americans

Adiponectin may influence the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) independently of traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

Because body composition and adiponectin levels vary by race, we examined the relationship of adiponectin with prevalent and incident CHD in a cohort of older Black and White adults.

We conducted a cross-sectional and prospective cohort study at two U.S. clinical centers.

Participants included 3075 well-functioning adults between ages 70 and 79 yr enrolled in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study.

Prevalent CHD was defined as history of myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft, percutaneous coronary transluminal angioplasty, angina, or major electrocardiogram abnormalities. After excluding those with prevalent CHD, incident CHD was defined as hospitalized myocardial infarction or CHD death.

At baseline, 602 participants (19.6%) had CHD. During 6 yr of follow-up, 262 (10.6%) incident CHD events occurred. Whites had higher median adiponectin than Blacks (12 vs. 8 microg/ml, P < 0.001). Race modified the effect of adiponectin (P for interaction was 0.002 for prevalent CHD, and P = 0.02 for incident CHD). Among Whites, an inverse association of adiponectin with CHD was explained by high-density lipoprotein and glucose. Among Blacks, a doubling of adiponectin was associated with a 40% higher risk of both prevalent CHD (odds ratio, 1.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.78) and incident CHD (hazards ratio, 1.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.87) after adjusting for explanatory variables.

High circulating concentrations of adiponectin were associated with higher risk of CHD in older Blacks, even accounting for traditional CHD risk factors.