IL6 and diabetes mellitus: Individually, low adiponectin, high A-FABP, TNF-α R2 (a surrogate marker of TNF-α), IL-6 or hsCRP at baseline was independently predictive of 5-year diabetes risk in this cohort, after adjustment for nine conventional risk factors, including age, sex, family history of diabetes, smoking, physical inactivity, hypertension, waist circumference, fasting glucose and dyslipidaemia.