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The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine
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Visfatin and adiponectin as early markers of atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus

The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine volume 25, pages 143–148 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Introduction

As cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality in type 2 diabetes mellitus, new markers for early detection and risk stratification of diabetic macroangiopathy and microangiopathy are highly desired. Adipocytokines were considered to lead to an increased risk of vascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes by modulating vascular function and affecting the inflammatory process, thus enhancing atherosclerosis. Two of these were of particular interest, namely, visfatin and adiponectin.

Aim

The aim of this study was to evaluate serum visfatin, serum, and urinary adiponectin as early, sensitive surrogate markers of vascular atherosclerosis. We also correlated the levels of these markers to the degree of carotid intimal medial thickness (reflecting the atherosclerotic burden) in type 2 diabetic patients.

Results

Sixty diabetic patients were subdivided into two groups: group I (30 patients with carotid atherosclerosis as assessed by carotid Doppler) and group II (30 patients without carotid atherosclerosis). Twenty healthy volunteers participated as controls. Serum visfatin as well as serum and urinary adiponectin were assessed in all the study groups. We found significantly higher levels of serum visfatin among diabetics compared with the control group. Visfatin was also significantly higher in group I diabetics with atherosclerosis than those without (P<0.05). Similarly, urinary adiponectin was significantly higher in group I than in group II and in diabetics than in the control group. Serum adiponectin was higher in the control group than both the study groups. Using a regression model, visfatin proved to be the only significant predictor in the model (ß = 0.03, P<0.001). In fact, visfatin alone proved significant, explaining 63% of the variability in carotid intima-media thickness (P<0.001).

Conclusion

Serum visfatin is highly correlated with macrovascular complications in diabetic patients. Serum visfatin may emerge as a valuable and cheaper surrogate marker for the prediction of prevalent macrovascular complications in a type 2 diabetic population. It is a novel and easy-to-obtain method for the clinical assessment of vascular stress and cardiovascular disease risk in type 2 diabetes. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm our results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Internal Medicine and Cairo University, 26 st.18 Mokattam, Cairo, Egypt

    Ibtissam Zakaria, Mary N. Rizk MD, PhD & Maha Rakha

  2. Departments of Biochemistry, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Amal Shehaby

Authors
  1. Ibtissam Zakaria
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  2. Mary N. Rizk MD, PhD
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  3. Maha Rakha
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  4. Amal Shehaby
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary N. Rizk MD, PhD.

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Zakaria, I., Rizk, M.N., Rakha, M. et al. Visfatin and adiponectin as early markers of atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Egypt J Intern Med 25, 143–148 (2013). https://doi.org/10.7123/01.EJIM.0000433121.61723.90

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7123/01.EJIM.0000433121.61723.90

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