BACKGROUND:
The prevalence of obesity and hypertension has increased in recent years. Obesity is a major risk factor for hypertension 1,2. However, not every obese person is hypertensive, which suggests that there might be other factors that play a role in the development of hypertension in obese individuals such as dysregulation of adipocytokine levels3-7. The study aimed to evaluate the association of adiponectin with obesity and hypertension.

METHODS:
Overall, 282 healthy African women aged ≥20 years participated in this study. Fasting blood samples, anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were collected from all participants. Blood concentration of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, adiponectin, leptin, glucose, creatinine, and insulin were measured using standard biochemical methods.

RESULTS:
There was no significant difference in adiponectin levels between normotensive normal, overweight and obese group (p=0.997, 0.091, and 0.728 respectively). There was no significant difference in adiponectin levels between normotensive and hypertensive group (p = 0.901). Adiponectin levels were not significantly different between hypertensive and normotensive group in all three BMI categories. Serum levels of adiponectin correlated significantly with BMI (r=-0.145 p=0.016), waist (r=-0.192 p=0.001), and waist to hip ratio (r=-0.212 p=0.001), but not with age (r=-0.080 p=0.184) systolic(r=0.013, p=0.827) and diastolic blood pressure (r=0.010 p=0.867), after adjusting for age, serum levels of adiponectin correlated significantly with BMI (r=-0.133 p=0.028), waist (r=-0.188 p=0.002), and waist to hip ratio (r=-0.217 p=0.001), but not with systolic (r=0.083 p=0.174) and diastolic blood pressure (r=0.054 p=0.371).

CONCLUSIONS:
Adiponectin levels are associated with obesity but not hypertension, suggesting that there are other factors other than adiponectin linking obesity and hypertension in this population.