The relationship between adiponectin and blood pressure in premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

PURPOSE Menopause can affect the reportedly inverse association between adiponectin and blood pressure (BP); however, this relationship is still poorly understood. The present study cross-sectionally compared the relationship between adiponectin and BP in pre- and postmenopausal women. METHODS Healthy, asymptomatic women on no medication (n = 262) were divided into a premenopausal group (n = 125, mean age 44.7 years) and a postmenopausal group (n = 137, mean age 65.6 years). Fasting values of serum adiponectin and BP were measured, in addition to body mass index (BMI), blood glucose and lipids. The correlation between the levels of adiponectin/BMI and mean BP (MBP) was analyzed with a linear regression model for the respective groups. RESULTS The median adiponectin/BMI did not significantly differ between the pre- and postmenopausal groups (0.37 and 0.42, P = 0.08), and the premenopausal group had a significantly lower level of mean MBP than the postmenopausal group (87.6 and 100.7 mmHg, P < 0.001). In an unadjusted analysis, adiponectin/BMI was found to be significantly and inversely correlated with MBP in the premenopausal group (r = -0.499, P < 0.001) and the postmenopausal group (r = -0.203, P < 0.01), respectively. In a stepwise multivariate-adjusted analysis, adiponectin/BMI remained significantly, inversely and independently correlated with MBP in the premenopausal group (β = -0.383, P < 0.001), while no significant correlation was found between adiponectin/BMI and MBP for the postmenopausal group. CONCLUSIONS The adiponectin-BP relationship appears to be associated with premenopausal state.