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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Cardiovascular Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1521415
Sex Differences Between Atherogenic Index of Plasma and α-klotho Levels in Middle-aged and Older Adults: NHANES 2007-2016
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Baotou Central Hospital, Baotou, China
- 2 Stroke Center, Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
Objective: Klotho is an anti-aging gene, and the α-klotho protein it encodes reportedly has cardiovascular protective effects. The atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) is a novel and comprehensive lipid index that correlates with atherosclerotic burden and is a critical risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. There are no studies examining the relationship between AIP and αklotho; thus, we aimed to explore this potential association. Methods: Data were extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2016 database, and the relationship between AIP and serum α-klotho levels was analyzed using weighted multivariate linear regression. Results: After adjusting for risk factors, AIP showed a significant negative correlation with the logarithm of serum α-klotho levels in women. The trend analysis and smoothed curve fitting showed a nonlinear dose-response relationship. Threshold effect analysis showed a significant difference in the association between AIP and α-klotho before and after the AIP break point (0.434). Subgroup analyses demonstrated that the negative association of AIP with α-klotho was consistent across subgroups. However, the correlation between AIP and serum α-klotho in men was not significant. Discussion: Our study provides new evidence for sex differences in the association between AIP and serum α-klotho levels.
Keywords: Atherogenic index of plasma, Klotho, sex differences, NHANES, Lipid
Received: 01 Nov 2024; Accepted: 20 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zuo, Shen and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yaojun Lu, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Baotou Central Hospital, Baotou, China
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