Abstract
Objective: Visfatin is proposed as an adipocytokine secreted from visceral fat and its blood level correlate with obesity, diabetes mellitus and inflammation. Aim of this study was to examine association of serum visfatin with measures of obesity in a group of patients with diabetic nephropathy and normal controls.
Methodology: This was a cross sectional study analyzing 60 subjects including 30 patients of diabetic nephropathy and 30 controls. Anthropometric measurements were done using standard methods and visfatin was measured through EIA Kit.
Results: Serum visfatin in obese subjects among both groups was not different from non obese subjects (7.9 +/- 6.1 vs. 6.4 +/- 3.2 p=0.238). We found a positive correlation of visfatin with BMI (r=0.313, p<0.05) but no correlation with waist circumference (r=0.148 p=0.695) and waist to hip ratio (0.198, p=0.136). Serum visfatin in subjects of diabetic nephropathy and non diabetics was (9.2 +/- 5.4 vs. 5.2 +/- 3.4 p<0.05.
Conclusion: Serum visfatin does not correlate with markers of visceral obesity including waist circumference and waist to hip ratio. However, a positive correlation is observed with BMI. Future studies involving larger sample size and quantifying visceral tissue expression of visfatin may explain its potential role in visceral obesity.