Association between Circulating Omentin-1 Levels and Aortic Valve Sclerosis.

Abstract

Aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) is characterized by thickening of the valve leaflets accompanied by increased echogenicity and calcification without significant limitations in valve movements. Omentin-1 is a glycoprotein of the adiponectin family released from visceral adipose tissue, and it can be used as a biomarker of atherosclerosis, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. No studies have demonstrated any relationship between AVS and omentin-1 in the literature. We aimed to explore the association of serum omentin-1 levels with AVS. Eighty-six patients with AVS and 92 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled into the study. The baseline clinical characteristics of the patients were recorded. Conventional 2-dimensional echocardiography was performed. Omentin-1 levels were measured. The mean omentin-1 level was significantly lower in the AVS (+) group compared to the control group (78.16 ± 44.95 vs. 163.57 ± 59.84 ng/mL, p < 0.001). Omentin-1 [odds ratio (OR) = 3.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.88-5.39, p < 0.001,] and LDL-C (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.33-2.16, p = 0.015) were found to be independent predictors of AVS in multivariate logistic regression analysis. An omentin-1 level of < 92.45 ng/mL had 90.5% sensitivity and 71.4% specificity for the prediction of AVS (area under curve: 0.697, p < 0.001). Our results indicated that a lower omentin-1 level was associated with an increased risk of AVS. We suggest that omentin-1 could be used as a treatment target as well as to predict AVS.