Association of osteoarthritis and circulating adiponectin levels: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The objective of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to investigate the specific relationship between the expression level of circulating adiponectin and osteoarthritis (OA). Method: Multiple databases were searched to estimate the high quality of studies relevant to adiponectin and OA. We extracted the data from the eligible studies and included them in the meta-analysis using a random effects model. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were further performed to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity. Results: Ten articles consisting of thirteen case-control studies that contained a combined total of 1255 subjects. Our results revealed that the OA patients displayed higher adiponectin levels than the healthy controls (SMD = 0.327, 95% CI: 0.11-0.55, P = 0.003). The ethnicity-stratified subgroup analysis indicated that the adiponectin was a sensitive biomarker in both Caucasians (P = 0.021) and Asians (P = 0.037). Moreover, the meta-regression analysis suggested that the sample size (P = 0.03) and nationality (p = 0.01) could account for a part of heterogeneity in our study. Conclusion: Taken together, the current study indicated that the adiponectin expression levels were higher in the OA patients than in the healthy controls and might be associated with OA prevalence.