Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Coronary Artery Disease in Subjects with Metabolic Syndrome: Role of Adiposity and Total Plasma Adiponectin

Accumulation of intra-abdominal visceral fat and of adipocyte’s dysfunction are considered the cellular basis of metabolic syndrome (MetS), associated with heightened risk for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular mortality [1-4]. Population-based studies indicated an association between MetS and abnormal left ventricular (LV) geometry [5,6]. It is well known that several factors, both hemodynamic and non-hemodynamic, may be implicated in the increase of left ventricular mass (LVM) and wall thickness and thus in the occurrence of LV hypertrophy (LVH) [7,8]. In this field an important role has been attributed recently to adipose tissue dysfunction [1-3,9], a term indicating a state of hyper secretion of pro-atherogenic, pro-inflammatory and pro-diabetic adipocytokines, which is accompanied by a decreased production of adiponectin [9]. Adiponectin (ADPN) is an adipocyte-specific protein abundantly present in the plasma with well known anti-atherogenic, anti-diabetic and antiinflammatory properties [1-3,10].