Increase in Adiponectin Level Prevents the Development of Type 2 Diabetes in Japanese Men With Low Adiponectin Levels.

Context: Low serum adiponectin (Ad) level is an important risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Objective: To determine whether the changes in Ad in subjects with low baseline serum Ad levels can reduce the rate of development of T2DM.

Design/setting/participants: We performed a large-scale longitudinal study of 7052 healthy Japanese men who underwent general health checkups more than twice between April 2007 and May 2015 at the Physical Check up Center, Sumitomo Hospital. The participants were divided into quartile groups according to baseline Ad level. Subjects of the lowest baseline Ad group (≤5.2 μg/mL) were subdivided into quartile subgroups according to the percent change in Ad (%Ad) and into two subgroups according to endpoint Ad (>5.2 and ≤5.2 μg/mL).

Main Outcome Measures: The cumulative incidence rate of T2DM.

Results: The cumulative incidence rate of T2DM of the lowest baseline Ad group (≤5.2 μg/mL) was significantly higher than the other quartile groups. The cumulative incidence rates of T2DM were significantly lower in the largest (≥21.5%) and the second largest (9.3% to 21.4%) %Ad-increased subgroups compared with the %Ad-decreased subgroup ( < 0.001 and = 0.005, respectively). The cumulative incidence rates of T2DM were significantly lower in the endpoint Ad >5.2 μg/mL subgroup than in the ≤5.2 μg/mL subgroup ( < 0.001).

Conclusions: Increases in serum Ad levels of at least ~10% or >5.2 μg/mL can potentially reduce the risk of development of T2DM in Japanese men with low baseline Ad levels who are at a high risk of developing T2DM.