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Associations of GDF-15 and GDF-15/adiponectin ratio with odds of type 2 diabetes in the Chinese population

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Abstract

Purpose

We elucidate the effect of Growth differentiation factor-15(GDF-15)/adiponectin ratio in improving the assessment value for odds of type 2 diabetes.

Methods

Cross-sectional design. A total of 405 participants (135 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, 135 age- and sex-matched participants with prediabetes, and 135 healthy controls) were collected from Guangzhou and Dongguan, China. The serum GDF-15 and adiponectin levels were measured by ELISA and latex-enhanced immunoturbidimetry. Logistic regression analysis and restricted cubic splines were used to evaluate the associations between diabetes and the indicators.

Results

The low level of adiponectin and high GDF-15/adiponectin ratio were significantly associated with increased odds of type 2 diabetes, but not for GDF-15. Three clusters were identified based on the K-means clustering analysis. Compared to the lowest quartiles of adiponectin, the OR and 95% CI of the highest adiponectin with type 2 diabetes was 0.24 (0.07–0.74, p trend = 0.004) after adjusting for sex, age, BMI, and DBP only in cluster 1. After adjusting for confounding factors, subjects with the highest GDF-15/adiponectin ratio quartiles had 3.9 times (OR = 3.85, 95% CI = 0.76–24.25) and 3.8 times (OR = 3.80, 95% CI = 1.02–14.68) higher odds of type 2 diabetes in cluster 2 and cluster 3, respectively. The association between the GDF-15/adiponectin ratio and type 2 diabetes was attenuated, but still remarkable (OR = 3.18, 95% CI = 1.11–10.18), in cluster 1.

Conclusions

Higher GDF-15/adiponectin ratio is independently associated with increased odds of type 2 diabetes for all study populations, suggesting that the GDF-15/adiponectin ratio may be a better indicator of type 2 diabetes.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article or in the data repositories listed in References.

Abbreviations

FPG:

Fasting plasma glucose

GDF-15:

Growth differentiation factor-15

HC:

Hip circumference

SBP:

Systolic blood pressure

TC:

Total cholesterol

TG:

Triglycerides

WC:

Waist circumference

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the following sources: (1) National Key Research and Development Project of China (grants numbers 2016YFC0901204); (2) Science and Technique Development Special Fund Project of Guangdong Province (Social Development Field) (grants numbers 2017B020209002); (3) Provincial Science and Technology Applied Science and Technology R&D Special Fund Project (grants numbers 2016B020238001). The linguistic editing and proofreading have been performed by AJESCI during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Xiaoying Wu, Wenting Xuan

  2. These authors jointly supervised this work: Meng Ren, Xiuwei Zhang

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 107 Yanjiang West Road, Guangzhou, 510120, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoying Wu, Lili You, Hong Lian, Feng Li, Xiaoyun Zhang, Kan Sun, Chaogang Chen, Mingtong Xu, Yan Li, Li Yan & Meng Ren

  2. Department of Endocrinology, Dongguan People’s Hospital, No. 3 South, Xinguyongwan Road, Wanjiang District, Dongguan, 523059, People’s Republic of China

    Wenting Xuan & Xiuwei Zhang

  3. Boji Healthcare Center, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, 107 Yanjiang West Road, Guangzhou, 510120, People’s Republic of China

    Qingyu Chen

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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: M.R., X.Z., and L.Y.; acquired the clinical data: H.L., Q.C., K.S., C.C., M.X., and Y.L.; performed the experiments: W.X., X.W., H.L., F.L., X.Z.; analyzed the data: L.Y., W.X., and X.W.; wrote the manuscript: W.X. and X.W. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiuwei Zhang or Meng Ren.

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The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University.

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Wu, X., Xuan, W., You, L. et al. Associations of GDF-15 and GDF-15/adiponectin ratio with odds of type 2 diabetes in the Chinese population. Endocrine 72, 423–436 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-021-02632-1

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