Although adiponectin is an adipose-specific protein and its concentration reduces with increasing level of obesity40, the current cohort study together with previous studies10,11,22 have shown that adjustment for markers of obesity, such as BMI or CT-assessed abdominal fat area, did not materially change the association between adiponectin and T2D risk, suggesting that low adiponectin levels could be associated with higher T2D risk through pathways that may not be related to systemic or regional fat deposition. The gene discussed is ADIPOQ; the disease is type 2 diabetes mellitus.