Resistin as a risk factor for all-cause (and cardiovascular) death in the general population

Serum resistin is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that has been described as a risk factor associated with mortality in several clinical sets including type 2 diabetes. Mortality studies in the general population are needed to find out the risk of death associated to this cytokine. In a follow-up study of a cohort of adult population (n = 6636) in Spain over a period of fifteen years (447 deaths/102,255 person-years), serum resistin measurements and death records were obtained. The risks of all-cause deaths, and deaths from cardiovascular and oncological diseases were estimated. Hazard ratios (HR) and its confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using multivariable Cox models, adjusting the effect of 11 traditional risk factors. The risk of all-cause mortality among participants exposed to the highest quintile of resistin was always higher than among those in the lowest quintile (HR varied between 1.55 when smoking was the adjusted factor [95% CI 1.17–2.05], and 1.68 when the adjusted factor was physical activity [95% CI 1.27–2.21]). The maximally adjusted model, accounting for the effect of all traditional factors, corroborated this higher risk of all-cause mortality among people in the highest resistin quintile (HR = 1.52; 95% CI 1.13–2.05). The effect of resistin was even higher for cardiovascular deaths (HR = 2.14; 95% CI 1.13–4.06), being exceeded only by suffering diabetes (HR = 3.04; 95% CI 1.98–4.69) or previous acute coronary syndrome (HR = 3.67; 95% CI 2.18–6.18). This findings corroborate the role of resistin as a risk factor for all-cause (and cardiovascular) death in the general population.