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Strong evidence of sexual dimorphic effect of adiposity excess on insulin sensitivity

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Abstract

Aims

Our aims were to investigate in several large samples, with a wide range of adiposity, whether: (1) the effect of BMI on insulin sensitivity is different between sexes; (2) also waist circumference plays a sex-specific role on insulin sensitivity; and (3) serum adiponectin and resistin are mediators of such sex-dimorphic effect.

Methods

Samples used were: Gargano study 1 (GS1), GS2 and Catania study (CS) comprising 3274 individuals. Adiponectin and resistin were measured by ELISA. Associations between variables were tested by linear models.

Results

In all samples, relationship between BMI and HOMAIR was steeper in males than in females (BMI-by-sex interaction p = 0.04–0.0007). No interaction was observed on serum adiponectin and resistin (p = 0.40–059), which are therefore unlikely to mediate the sex-dimorphic effect of BMI on insulin resistance. Relationship between waist circumference and HOMAIR was similar between sexes in GS1 and GS2 but not in CS (waist-by-sex interaction p = 0.01), comprising much heavier individuals. This suggests that a sex-dimorphic effect of abdominal adiposity on insulin resistance is observable only in the context of high BMI.

Conclusions

Our findings represent a proof of concept that BMI and insulin sensitivity are associated in a sex-specific manner. This may explain why females are protected from diabetes and cardiovascular disease, compared to males of similar BMI.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Italian Ministry of Health Grants: RC2014 RC2015 (A.M.), RC2014 RC2015 (R.D.P.), RC2014 RC2015 (C.M.) and RC2014 RC2015(V.T.); PONa3_00134 (V.T.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit of Diabetes and Endocrine Diseases, Poliambulatorio Giovanni Paolo II, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, Viale Padre Pio, 71013, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

    Antonella Marucci, Claudia Menzaghi, Lucia Salvemini, Eleonora Morini, Rosa Di Paola & Vincenzo Trischitta

  2. Unit of Biostatistics, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

    Massimilano Copetti

  3. Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Federica Vinciguerra, Roberto Baratta & Lucia Frittitta

  4. Department of Experimental Medicine, “Sapienza” University, Rome, Italy

    Vincenzo Trischitta

Authors
  1. Antonella Marucci
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  2. Claudia Menzaghi
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  3. Massimilano Copetti
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  4. Federica Vinciguerra
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  5. Roberto Baratta
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  6. Lucia Salvemini
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  7. Eleonora Morini
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  8. Lucia Frittitta
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  9. Rosa Di Paola
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  10. Vincenzo Trischitta
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rosa Di Paola.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

Study design and informed consent procedures were approved by the local ethical committees and performed according to the Helsinki Declaration.

Human and animal rights

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and its later amendments.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Managed by Antonio Secchi.

Rosa Di Paola and Vincenzo Trischitta equally supervised the entire study.

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Marucci, A., Menzaghi, C., Copetti, M. et al. Strong evidence of sexual dimorphic effect of adiposity excess on insulin sensitivity. Acta Diabetol 52, 991–998 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-015-0804-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-015-0804-2

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