title: Adiponectin levels and risk of coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of prospective studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adiponectin is the most abundant circulating protein secreted by adipocytes. There is uncertainty about the association between adiponectin levels and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). We conducted this meta-analysis to summarize the effect of adiponectin on the risk of CHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comprehensive search was performed to identify all prospective studies on the association of adiponectin levels and risk of CHD. The quality of the eligible studies was evaluated by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The fixed- or random-effects model was selected to pool the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Heterogeneity among studies was evaluated using Q test and the I² statistic. Publication bias was estimated using modified Egger's linear regression test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve prospective studies comprising 8 nested case-control studies and 4 cohort studies were included in the meta-analysis. A total of 14,960 participants were enrolled and 4,132 incident CHD events were observed. The pooled RR for CHD was 0.83 (95% CI, 0.69-0.98, P = 0.031). Subgroup analyses showed that the pooled RRs (95% CIs) for CHD risk were 0.78 (0.66-0.92) and 0.75 (0.59-0.94) for men and women, respectively. For studies with mean age less than 65 years, the pooled RR (95% CI) for CHD risk was 0.72 (0.59-0.87). For studies with 100 or more CHD cases, the pooled RR was marginally significant (RR = 0.83, 95% CI, 0.69-1.00; P = 0.051). No publication bias was found in our study (P = 0.911).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis showed that higher levels of adiponectin were associated with a low risk of CHD. The protective effect was consistently existed in men and women and in the middle-aged populations.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Evidence Based Medicine, Fu Wai Hospital, National Center of Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xingbo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: Yongchen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xiangfeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Dongfeng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D052242:Adiponectin / Q000097:blood*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin; D015415:Biomarkers