Serum Level of Adiponectin and Its Association With Insulin Sensitivity in Overweight Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Iranian Men

Background: adiponectin is a protein produced exclusively by adipose tissue; the reduced level of which has been shownto be involved in a variety of obesity-related disorders, such as insulin resistance and diabetes, in different ethnic groups.this cross-sectional study was conducted to determine adiponectin level and its association with insulin sensitivity in 20adult overweight type-2 diabetic and 20 healthy over-weight non-diabetic iranian men for the first time.methods: body fat mass (bio-electric impedance), serum level of adiponectin (elisa), fasting blood sugar and fasting insulinwere measured. insulin sensitivity was calculated using quicki.results: as expected, the mean adiponectin concentration was lower in diabetics (7.7 ±3ىg/ml) than non-diabetics (8.1 ± 2ىg/ml); however, the difference did not achieve statistical significance (p= 0.5). adiponectin negatively correlated with fat mass. this correlation was stronger in diabetics with a higher fat mass (r= -0.3 in diabetics vs. r= -0.01 in non-diabetics; p: n.s.). adiponectin positively related with insulin sensitivity in both groups, although this relation was only statistically significantin non-diabetics (r= +0.5; p= 0.04). the relation between insulin sensitivity and mean of adiponectin level was marginallysignificant even after adjustment for group (diabetic and non-diabetic), age and fat mass. conclusion: our findings are consistent with the studies on different ethnic groups which have indicated lower adiponectin levels in diabetics. also our results confirm the relationship between a low adiponectin level and insulin sensitivity reportedin earlier studies.