Introduction We evaluated the relationship between adipokine plasma concentrations and body fat distribution and the metabolic syndrome. Methods In a cohort of 1215 patients with clinically manifest vascular disease the relation between subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral adipose tissue, waist circumference, body mass index and plasma concentrations of adipsin, chemerin, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, migration inhibitory factor, nerve growth factor, resistin, plasma amyloid A1, adiponectin, leptin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and hepatic growth factor were cross-sectionally assessed with linear regression and adjusted for age and gender. The relation between adipokines and the metabolic syndrome was cross-sectionally evaluated using logistic regression. An adipokine profile was developed to measure the effect of combined rather than single adipokines. Results Adiposity was related to higher nerve growth factor, hepatic growth factor, migration inhibitory factor, leptin and adipsin and with lower chemerin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, resistin, plasma amyloid A1 and adiponectin. The strongest positive relations were between body mass index and adipsin (β 0.247; 95% CI 0.137-0.356) and leptin (β 0.266; 95% CI 0.207-0.324); the strongest negative relations were between body mass index and plasma amyloid A1 (β -0.266; 95% CI -0.386 to -0.146) and visceral adipose tissue and adiponectin (β -0.168; 95% CI -0.226 to -0.111). There was no relation between subcutaneous adipose tissue and adipokines. Odds for the metabolic syndrome were higher with each 1 SD higher hepatic growth factor (OR 1.21; 95% CI 1.06-1.38) and leptin (OR 1.26; 95% CI 1.10-1.45) and lower with each 1 SD higher adiponectin (OR 0.73; 95% CI 0.64-0.83) and resistin (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.74-0.97). The adipokine profile was related to the metabolic syndrome (OR 1.03; 95% CI 1.00-1.06). Conclusion Plasma concentrations of adipokines are related to obesity and body fat distribution. The relation between adipokine concentrations and the metabolic syndrome is independent of visceral adipose tissue.
Keywords: BMI; Obesity; adipokines; metabolic syndrome; subcutaneous adipose tissue; visceral adipose tissue; waist circumference.