Association of adipokines with blood pressure, arterial elasticity and cardiac markers in dialysis patients: cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a cohort study

Background: Adipokines are a set of cytokines secreted by white adipose tissue that have been suggested to be involved in the development of cardiovascular diseases. We aimed to evaluate the cross-sectional associations of a panel of representative adipokines with cardiovascular measures in a cohort of hemodialysis patients. Methods: We measured plasma adiponectin, resistin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), leptin, monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) and adipsin levels in 366 dialysis patients and 60 healthy controls. The associations of these adipokines with systolic blood pressure (assessed by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring), pulse wave velocity (PWV) and cardiac markers (BNP, NT-proBNP, Troponin I, Troponin T) in these patients were determined by general linear models with stepwise adjustment for covariates. Results: In unadjusted comparison with controls, dialysis patients showed increased adiponectin, resistin, MCP-1 and adipsin levels, decreased PAI-1 concentrations (all p < 0.001) and similar leptin levels (p = 0.82). On adjustment for body mass index and diabetes, however, the PAI-1 level was comparable between group (p = 0.06), whereas leptin levels became significantly higher in the patients(p < 0.001). Higher adiponectin, lower PAI-1 and leptin levels were associated with higher systolic blood pressure, even after extensive adjustment (all p = 0.01). Adiponectin was also consistently and inversely associated with PWV in fully adjusted models (p = 0.003). Resistin, PAI-1, leptin and adipsin showed negative associations with one or more circulating cardiac markers (all p <= 0.02). Conclusions: We found significant associations between adipokines and cardiovascular measures. Our data suggest the possible involvement of adipokines in cardiovascular modulation in dialysis patients.