Association of circulating resistin, leptin, adiponectin and visfatin levels with Behçet disease: a meta-analysis

Background: Behçet disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disease. Adipokines are synthesized in adipose tissue, and have been reported to play important roles in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including BD. Aim: To evaluate the relationship between circulating blood adipokine levels and BD. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of papers reporting on serum/plasma resistin, leptin, adiponectin and visfatin levels in patients with BD and in healthy controls (HCs). We identified 82 relevant studies using electronic and manual search methods, and selected 16 studies for full-text review based on the title and abstract. Two of these were later excluded (one was a review, one had no data), leaving 14 articles that met the inclusion criteria for this meta-analysis. Results: The 14 included studies assessed 637 patients with BD and 520 HCs. Compared with the HCs, the BD group had significantly higher levels of leptin [standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.68, 95% CI 0.15–1.21, P = 0.01]. Levels of resistin (SMD = 0.51, 95% CI 0.92–0.918, P = 0.02) and adiponectin (SMD = 0.31, 95% CI 0.06–0.56, P = 0.02) were significantly higher in the BD group after adjustment for age, sex and body mass index (BMI), but not without such adjustment (resistin: (SMD = 0.38, 95% CI −0.18 to 0.93, P = 0.19; adiponectin: SMD = −0.59, 95% CI −2.23 to 1.06, P = 0.48). A significantly lower visfatin level was found in the BD group with adjustment (SMD = −1.70, 95% CI −2.14 to −1.25, P < 0.001) but not without adjustment (SMD = 0.31, 95% CI −0.21 to 0.82, P = 0.24). Conclusions: Our meta-analysis revealed significantly higher circulating resistin, leptin and adiponectin levels and lower visfatin levels in patients with BD than in HCs, indicating that adipokines probably play an important role in BD pathogenesis.