Paradoxically High Adiponectin in Obese 16-Year-Old Girls Protects Against Appearance of the Metabolic Syndrome and its Components Seven Years Later

ObjectiveTo evaluate the relationships of adiponectin levels at age 16 years in obese schoolgirls to metabolic syndrome and its components at age 23 years.Study designSeven-year prospective study of 381 females.ResultsIn 144 white and 129 black non-obese 16-year old girls (body mass index < 24.6 kg/m2), race-specific median adiponectin levels (white 12 mg/L, black 11) was used to identify paradoxically high adiponectin levels in obese girls. Of 34 white and 74 black obese girls, 12 (35%) and 19 (26%) had paradoxically high adiponectin levels. In these 108 obese girls, adiponectin levels at age 16 years independently predicted high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (positive) and waist (negative), insulin (negative), and glucose (negative) at age 23 years; paradoxically high adiponectin levels at age 16 years was a negative independent predictor for waist, homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance, and for the number of abnormal components of the metabolic syndrome at age 23 years. In 31 pairs of obese girls with and without paradoxically high adiponectin levels, matched by race and age 16 body mass index, adiponectin levels at age 16 years was a negative predictor for the number of abnormal metabolic syndrome components at age 23 years.ConclusionParadoxically high adiponectin levels in obese 16 year old girls protects against metabolic syndrome and its components at age 23 years.