Adiponectin is a cytokine secreted by adipocytes and is known to be present in the blood at high concentrations. Because blood adiponectin levels are known to decrease in obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, raising blood adiponectin levels has long been considered beneficial for the prevention and treatment of lifestyle-related and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, however, high blood adiponectin levels have been reported as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We therefore used data from 812 centenarians and 1,498 of the oldest old who had participated in our previous surveys to explore factors associated with blood adiponectin levels and their relationship with mortality in centenarians and the oldest old.
The results showed that blood adiponectin levels rose significantly beyond age 100, and were negatively correlated with diabetes prevalence in this population as well, correlating with two genetic polymorphisms (CDH13, ADIPOQ). Further detailed analysis showed that previously known factors, including BMI, were associated with high blood adiponectin levels in the oldest old, but BMI (body mass index) was no longer associated in centenarians. Finally, analysis of the relationship between blood adiponectin levels and mortality showed that oldest-old men with high blood adiponectin levels had higher mortality, but this trend was not observed in oldest-old women or centenarians.
These results suggest that blood adiponectin levels increase with age up to and beyond 100 years, that the contribution of known major factors associated with blood adiponectin levels, including BMI, varies with age, and that its physiological significance also differs with age among older adults.
This study was published on September 28 in the open-access online scientific journal eLife.
Takashi Sasaki, Yoshinori Nishimoto, Takumi Hirata, Yukiko Abe, Nobuyoshi Hirose, Michiyo Takayama, Toru Takebayashi, Hideyuki Okano, Yasumichi Arai. Status and physiological significance of circulating adiponectin in the very old and centenarians: an observational study. eLife 2023 12:e86309.