Adipokines and risk of type 2 diabetes in older men,”Diabetes

OBJECTIVE — The aim was to assess the relationship between adipokines, including inter-leukin (IL)-6, leptin, and adiponectin, with development of type 2 diabetes and assess the role of obesity and insulin resistance in these relationships. RESEARCH DESIGNANDMETHODS — We conducted a prospective study of 3,599 nondiabetic men aged 60–79 years and followed up for a mean period of 5 years, during which time there were 108 incident cases of type 2 diabetes. RESULTS — Elevated IL-6, leptin, and low adiponectin were associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes even after adjustment for BMI, lifestyle factors, preexisting cardiovascular dis-ease, and systolic blood pressure. The relative risks (RRs) (top vs. bottom third) were 2.02 (95% CI 1.14–3.58) for IL-6, 1.91 (0.97–3.76) for leptin, and 0.40 (0.23–0.70) for adiponectin. Further adjustment for insulin resistance made minor differences to the IL-6 diabetes relation-ship (adjusted RR 2.12 [1.18–3.81]), weakened the associations with adiponectin (0.59 [0.33– 1.04]), and abolished the association between leptin and diabetes (1.12 [0.55–2.26]). The inverse relation between low adiponectin and diabetes was significantly stronger in men who were obese (waist circumference 102 cm or BMI 30 kg/m2) (0.30 [0.11–0.79]) relative t