Objective Recent studies indicated that resistin and adiponectin take some roles in the glucose homeostasis and suggested there were associations among resistin, adiponectin and glucose tolerance. Therefore we investigate the serum levels of resistin and adiponectin in impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) cases in the present study.

Methods 82 subjects were included, divided into IGT group (27 cases) and normal glucose tolerance (NGT) group (55 subjects) based on the oral glucose tolerance test. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting lipids, glucose, insulin and C-peptide were measured, and adipocytokines such as resistin, adiponectin, leptin, TNF-α, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-response protein (CRP) were also examined, insulin resistiance was assayed by the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) formula.

Results There were no differences in concentrations of resistin and adiponectin between IGT group and NGT group. Pearson relation analysis showed that serum resistin concentrations were positively correlated with age (r=0.482, p<0.05) and BMI (r=0.389, p<0.05), and serum adiponectin concentrations were positively correlated with HDL-c (r=0.524, p<0.01) and female (r=0.437, p<0.05), but negatively correlated with TNF-α (r=−0.437, p<0.05) in IGT cases. There were no correlations among resistin, adiponectin with fasting glucose, glucose tolerance and HOMA-IR. In IGT cases with overweight and obesity, serum resistin concentrations were higher than those in IGT cases with normal weight (16.3±7.5 ng/ml vs 9.2±6.2 ng/ml, p<0.01), and serum resistin concentrations positively correlated with age (r=0.482, p<0.05) and BMI (r=0.380, p<0.05). In IGT cases, the concentrations of adiponectin were higher in females than males (12.2±7.1 μg/ml vs 6.1±5.5 μg/ml, p<0.05).

Conclusions In IGT cases, serum resistin and adiponectin concentrations are normal, however, serum resistin concentrations were higher in IGT cases with overweight and obesity while adiponectin were higher in female IGT case.