Association of circulating adiponectin levels with the incidence of ischemic stroke: A meta-analysis

Background

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability among adults worldwide, and severely impairs the quality of life of patients. Circulating adiponectin (APN) is an endogenous bioactive protein secreted by adipocytes that may have important value in predicting ischemic stroke. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between circulating APN levels and ischemic stroke.

Methods

The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases (CNKI) were systematically searched for articles on ‘‘circulating APN’’ and “stroke” published from inception to December 2023. Our analysis included peer-reviewed observational and clinical trial studies reporting odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for ischemic stroke in relation to APN levels. The meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model to account for between-study heterogeneity. Statistical analyses were performed in STATA 16.

Results

In our analysis, 13 studies and 22,714 individuals were included. There was a significant pooled OR of 1.163 (95% CI: 1.03 to 1.32), suggesting that higher circulating APN levels are associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke. Furthermore, subgroup analysis indicated region-specific and study design-specific variations in the association between circulating APN levels and ischemic stroke risk. Egger's test revealed no significant publication bias among the included studies (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

Our meta-analysis results suggest that elevated APN levels are associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke, and support the possible use of APN as a biomarker in stroke prevention strategies. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies and standardized measurement approaches to better understand the potential of APN for predicting and mitigating stroke risk.