SAN DIEGO, July 8 -- The hepatic protein fetuin-A may predict diabetes onset in older adults independently of recognized risk factors, researchers found.
Action Points --->
Explain to interested patients that the study suggested a protein made in the liver may be involved in development of diabetes.
Note that the findings need to be confirmed, particularly for adults in middle age, who are at the highest risk for new onset diabetes.
The highest serum levels of fetuin-A were associated with a 2.41 times higher risk of incident diabetes compared with the lowest protein levels (P=0.007), reported Joachim H. Ix, M.D., of the University of California San Diego, and colleagues in the July 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
This association in the longitudinal Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study was independent of physical activity, weight, blood pressure, fasting glucose, lipid levels, C-reactive protein level, and other factors.
The results strengthen the link between fetuin-A and insulin resistance found in prior cross-sectional studies, the researchers said.
Fetuin-A is secreted by the liver and is thought to cause insulin resistance in muscle and fat by binding to the insulin receptor tyrosine kinase.
"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," the researchers said.
They conducted a case-control study within the larger Health ABC study of well-functioning Medicare beneficiaries ages 70 to 79. /.../
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