Association of anemia with hyperadiponectinemia in oldest-old Japanese women who resided at home alone without wheelchair use.

The association of anemia with hyperadiponectinemia (HAN) (≥ 20 μg/mL) was studied in 95 Japanese women aged 65-74 (young-old), 175 women aged 75-84 (old-old), and 51 women aged over 85 (oldest-old) who resided at home alone without wheelchair use. The prevalence of anemia was 21.5% overall and increased with aging stepwise (9.5, 22.9, and 39.2% in young-olds, old-olds, and oldest-olds, respectively, p < 0.001). Most of the anemia was normocytic and only one woman had hemoglobin < 10 g/dL. Old-olds with anemia had low serum iron, albumin, and cholesterol and a higher prevalence of renal insufficiency (30.0 versus 5.2%, p < 0.001). In contrast, these variables did not differ between anemic and non-anemic young-olds. oldest-olds with anemia had low serum iron and higher adiponectin concentrations (22.8 ± 9.8 vs. 16.0 ± 6.7 μg/mL, p = 0.005) and prevalence of HAN (60.0 vs. 19.4%, p = 0.006) and renal insufficiency (50.0 vs. 0%, p < 0.001). However, inflammatory markers did not differ between anemic and non-anemic oldest-olds. The prevalence of anemia was higher in oldest-olds with versus without HAN (66.7 vs. 24.2%, p = 0.006). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, anemia was associated with HAN (OR: 15.7, 95% CI 1.2-207, p = 0.03) in oldest-olds and with renal insufficiency (OR: 7.1, 95% CI 2.4-21.0, p < 0.001) in old-olds. In conclusion, the association of anemia with HAN was evident in oldest-old Japanese women, suggesting the anti-inflammatory properties of circulating adiponectin.