Adiponectin is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, and myocardial infarction in patients presenting with chest pain

AIMS: To determine the prognostic value of baseline plasma adiponectin levels in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease referred for coronary angiography. METHODS AND RESULTS: Adiponectin was measured in 325 male patients with stable angina, troponin-negative unstable angina, and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (MI) undergoing coronary angiography at a Veterans Administration Medical Center. The patients were then followed prospectively for the occurrence of all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, and MI. Follow-up data at 24 months were available for 97% of the patients. Adiponectin was the only biomarker to independently predict the individual endpoints of all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, and MI. The 24-month survival rates for patients in the lower (4.431 and 8.008 mg/L) tertiles of plasma adiponectin values were 95.0, 90.4, and 83.5%, respectively (P = 0.0232 by log-rank test). Furthermore, when patients with chest pain were risk-stratified into those with and without a non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS), adiponectin remained an independent predictor of both all-cause mortality and cardiac mortality in the NSTEACS subgroup. CONCLUSION: In a cohort of male patients undergoing coronary angiography, a single baseline determination of plasma adiponectin is independently predictive of the subsequent risk of death and MI.