Adipokines and incident venous thromboembolism: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

• Published in: Journal of thrombosis and haemostasis Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 303 - 310
• Main Authors: Broni, Eric K., Ogunmoroti, Oluseye, Quispe, Renato, Sweeney, Ty, Varma, Bhavya, Fashanu, Oluwaseun E., Lutsey, Pamela L., Matthew Allison, Moyses Szklo, Ndumele, Chiadi E., Michos, Erin D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 01-02-2023
• Subjects: Adipokines; Adiponectin; Aged; Atherosclerosis - epidemiology; body mass index; Female; Humans; Leptin; Male; Middle Aged; obesity; Prospective Studies; Resistin; Risk Factors; venous thromboembolism; Venous Thromboembolism - diagnosis; Venous Thromboembolism - epidemiology; visceral adipose tissue; adipokines; body mass index; venous thromboembolism; obesity; visceral adipose tissue
• ISSN: 1538-7836; 1538-7933; 1538-7836
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtha.2022.11.012

Obesity leads to adipocyte hypertrophy and adipokine dysregulation and is an independent risk factor for venous thromboembolism (VTE). However, the association between adipokines and VTE is not well established.
To examine whether adipokines are associated with increased risk of incident VTE.
We studied 1888 participants of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis cohort who were initially free of VTE and had adipokine (adiponectin, leptin, and resistin) levels measured at either examination 2 or 3 (2002-2004 or 2004-2005, respectively). During follow-ups, VTE was ascertained through hospitalization records and death certificates by using ICD-9 and 10 codes. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression to assess the association between 1 standard deviation (SD) log-transformed increments in adipokines and incident VTE.
The mean ± SD age was 64.7 ± 9.6 years, and 49.8% of participants were women. Medians (interquartile range) of adiponectin, leptin, and resistin were 17.3 (11.8-26.2) mcg/mL, 13.5 (5.6-28.2) ng/mL, and 15.0 (11.9-19.0) ng/mL, respectively. There were 78 incident cases of VTE after a median of 9.7 (5.0-12.4) years of follow-up. After adjusting for sociodemographics, smoking, and physical activity, the hazard ratios (95% CIs) per 1 SD increment of adiponectin, leptin, and resistin were 1.14 (0.90-1.44), 1.29 (1.00-1.66), and 1.38 (1.09-1.74), respectively. The association for resistin persisted after further adjustments for body mass index and computed tomography–derived total visceral adipose tissue area.
Higher resistin levels were independently associated with greater risk of incident VTE. Larger prospective cohort studies are warranted to confirm this association.
•The association between adipokines and incident venous thromboembolism (VTE) was not well established.•We studied the prospective association between adipokine levels and incident VTE in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis participants.•Of the 1888 participants studied, 78 developed incident VTE after a median follow-up period of 9.7 years.•Higher resistin level was independently associated with increased risk of VTE, even after accounting for adiposity indices.