Relationship between serum resistin, carotid intima-media thickness and urinary albumin excretion rate in patients with hypertension

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum resistin, carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) in patients with essential hypertension. Methods One hundred hypertensives patients and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled into this study. Serum resistin was tested by ELISA,carotid IMT was estimated by ultrasound, and UAER was tested by chemiluminescence. Results HOMA-IR, serum resistin levels, carotid IMT and UAER increased gradually with the increase of blood pressure (P0.05). Patients were divided into 2 groups by the median of resistin level (9.12 μg/L). Compared with low-level resistin group, patients in high-level resistin group had higher carotid IMT [high-level resistin group (0.92±0.20)mm vs low-level resistin group (0.63±0.15) mm, P0.01] and UAER [high-level resistin group (100.7±27.4) μg/min vs low-level resistin group (41.8±21.9) μg/min, P0.01]. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that resistin was positively correlated with systolic blood pressure(SBP), diastolic blood pressure(DBP), HOMA-IR, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hsCRP), IL-6, carotid IMT and UAER (P0.01). Resistin was still positively correlated with carotid IMT and UAER, after age, glucose, HOMA-IR, lipids,hsCRP, IL-6, body mass index, SBP and DBP were controlled. The partial correlation coefficients were 0.840 and 0.794 (P0.01). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that UAER, SBP and carotid IMT were independent factors associated with serum resistin concentration (P0.01). Conclusion Levels of resistin increased in patients with hypertension. Resistin was positively correlated with carotid IMT and UAER independently.