Relationship between serum adiponectin levels and calcific aortic valve disease

BACKGROUND: Adiponectin, an adipose tissue derived cytokine, is known to have antiatherogenic and anti-inflammatory effects on endothelial cells and macrophages. Calcific aortic valve disease has a similar physiopathology to atherosclerosis. AIM: To investigate the relationship between adiponectin and calcific aortic valve disease. METHODS: The study group consisted of 58 patients with calcific aortic stenosis and 24 healthy controls. Aortic stenosis patients were divided into three groups according to their valvular areas: mild (n = 11), moderate (n = 25), and severe (n = 22). Serum adiponectin levels and other biochemical parameters were measured. RESULTS: The aortic stenosis and control group were similar in terms of age, gender and cardiovascular risk factors. Adiponectin median values did not differ significantly between two groups (2.19 μg/mL [1.43-3.18], 1.79 μg/mL [1.34-3.42] aortic stenosis and control group, respectively; p = 0.7). Aortic stenosis patients were divided into three groups according to their valvular area as mild, moderate and severe. There were no differences when we compared adiponectin levels among those groups (mild: 2.10 μg/mL [1.47-3.31], moderate: 2.13 μg/mL [1.44-2.91], severe: 2.65 μg/mL [1.28-3.43]; p = 0.67). Age (r = 0.26, p = 0.045) and aspartate aminotransferase (r = 0.28, p = 0.04) had positive correlations with adiponectin; while white blood cell count (r = -0.32, p = 0.015), fasting blood glucose (r = -0.29, p = 0.03), haemoglobin (r = -0.27, p = 0.04) and triglyceride levels (r = -0.41, p = 0.002) had negative correlations. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we did not find a relationship between adiponectin levels and calcific aortic valve disease.