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Title: Elevated Levels of Liver Protein Associated With Increased Risk for Diabetes
URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/225492.htm
Doctor's Guide
July 8, 2008

CHICAGO -- July 8, 2008 -- Having a higher than normal level of fetuin-A is associated with an increased risk of the development of diabetes, according to a study in the July 9 issue of JAMA.

Previous studies have found an association between higher fetuin-A levels and insulin resistance, but the association with incident type 2 diabetes is unknown.

Joachim H. Ix, MD, University of California, San Diego, and San Diego Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, San Diego, and colleagues, conducted a study to examine whether higher fetuin-A levels are associated with the occurrence of diabetes in older persons.

The study included 406 people, aged 70 to 79 years, without diabetes at the start of the study. All patients had fetuin-A levels measured at baseline and had 6 years of follow-up. Diabetes developed in 135 participants (10.1 cases/1,000 person-years).

Analysis indicated a graded increase in the incidence of diabetes with increased fetuin-A levels. The third of the group with the highest levels had more than twice the incidence rate compared with the lowest third (13.3 vs 6.5 cases/1,000 person-years).

The association was independent of physical activity, inflammatory biomarkers, and other commonly available measures of insulin resistance and was irrespective of sex, race, and obesity status. The association was moderately weakened by adjustment for visceral adiposity.

"Future studies should evaluate whether the results may generalise to middle-aged individuals in whom the incidence rate is highest," the authors wrote. "If confirmed in future studies, fetuin-A may ultimately prove useful as a target for therapeutics, and its study may provide novel insights to glucose metabolism in humans."


SOURCE: JAMA

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