Adrenal limb thickness is associated with metabolism profiles in patients with diabetes: A cross-sectional study
Yingning Liu
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiantong Zou
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorWei Zhao
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Department of Radiology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXun Yao
Department of Radiology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorLexuan Wang
School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorLingLi Zhou
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorRui Zhang
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorYingying Luo
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorMeng Li
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiuying Zhang
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorYu Zhu
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiaoling Cai
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXianghai Zhou
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xueyao Han
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Linong Ji and Xueyao Han, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, 100044, China.
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Linong Ji
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Linong Ji and Xueyao Han, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, 100044, China.
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYingning Liu
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiantong Zou
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorWei Zhao
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Department of Radiology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXun Yao
Department of Radiology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorLexuan Wang
School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorLingLi Zhou
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorRui Zhang
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorYingying Luo
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorMeng Li
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiuying Zhang
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorYu Zhu
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiaoling Cai
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXianghai Zhou
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xueyao Han
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Linong Ji and Xueyao Han, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, 100044, China.
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Linong Ji
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Linong Ji and Xueyao Han, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, 100044, China.
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorYingning Liu and Xiantong Zou have contributed equally to this work and should be considered joint first author.
Abstract
Background
The association between adrenal size and metabolic profiles in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) is unclear. This study was conducted to determine whether the adrenal thickness measured by computed tomography (CT) is correlated with the metabolic profiles of patients with DM.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional study including 588 Chinese hospitalized patients with DM without comorbidities or medications known to affect adrenal morphology or hormone secretion. Adrenal limb thickness was measured on unenhanced chest CT. Participants were stratified into tertiles according to their total adrenal limb thickness. Linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate the correlations.
Results
After adjustment for sex and age, the adrenal thickness was positively associated with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), urinary albumin/creatinine ratio, and 24-h urinary free cortisol (UFC) and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The sequential equation model (SEM) suggested UFC partially mediated the effect of adrenal limb thickness on WC by 12%. Adrenal thickness, but not UFC, was associated with a higher risk of existing hypertension (odds ratio [OR] = 3.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.58, 9.02) and hyperlipidemia (OR = 2.76, 95% CI 1.03, 7.38), independent of age, gender, BMI, and WC.
Conclusions
The adrenal thickness is independently associated with BMI, WC, cortisol levels, urinary albumin/creatinine ratio, hypertension, and dyslipidemia but not glycemic parameters in patients with diabetes. Our study encourages further studies to investigate the role of adrenal physiology in patients with diabetes.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data sets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to human resource regulations of China, but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Linong Ji is the guarantor of this work and, as such, had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| jdb13479-sup-0001-Supinfo.docxWord 2007 document , 116 KB | Data S1. Supplementary Information. |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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