Abstract
BACKGROUND: Adiponectin serum levels are affected by sex, ethnicities, adiposity, age and several pathological conditions such as anemia. The prevalence of hyperadiponectinemia (≥ 20 mg/L) in relation to anemia (hemoglobin < 12 g/dL) was examined in normal-weight Japanese women. METHODS: Serum adiponectin and blood hemoglobin were measured in 311 young women aged 18 - 24 years (A), 148 of their middle-aged mothers aged 39 - 60 years (B) and 322 community-dwelling women aged ≥ 65 years (C) with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 20.4, 22.0 and 22.4 kg/m(2), respectively. Elderly women were subdivided into three age groups: between 65 and 74 years (n = 95, X), between 75 and 84 years (n = 176, Y) and older than 85 years (n = 51, Z). RESULTS: The prevalence of hyperadiponectinemia (A: 3.9%, B: 3.4%, C: 22.7%, P < 0.001) was low and serum adiponectin (A: 11.5 ± 4.3 mg/L, B: 11.8 ± 4.9 mg/L, C: 15.3 ± 7.8 mg/L, P < 0.001) did not change until middle-aged but increased thereafter in a stepwise fashion (X: 18.9%, Y: 22.7%, Z: 35.3%, P = 0.07 and X: 13.9 ± 6.9 mg/L, Y: 15.1 ± 7.7 mg/L, Z: 18.7 ± 8.6 mg/L, P = 0.001, respectively). There were inverse associations of adiponectin with age (r = -0.201, P < 0.001) and hemoglobin (r = -0.318, P < 0.001) in elderly women but not even in young and middle-aged women combined. Furthermore, anemia was associated with higher prevalence of hyperadiponectinemia (34.8% vs. 20.6%, P = 0.01) and higher serum adiponectin (18.3 ± 9.4 mg/L vs. 14.5 ± 7.1 mg/L, P < 0.001) in elderly women but not in younger and middle-aged women. CONCLUSIONS: In normal-weight Japanese women, the prevalence of hyperadiponectinemia and serum adiponectin were increased and associated with anemia at 65 years of age and older.