Resistant hypertension (RHTN) includes patients with controlled blood pressure (BP) (CRHTN) and uncontrolled BP (UCRHTN). In fact, RHTN patients are more likely to have target organ damage (TOD), and resistin, leptin and adiponectin may affect BP control in these subjects. We assessed the relationship between adipokines levels and arterial stiffness, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and microalbuminuria (MA). This cross-sectional study included CRHTN (n=51) and UCRHTN (n=38) patients for evaluating body mass index, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, plasma adiponectin, leptin and resistin concentrations, pulse wave velocity (PWV), MA and echocardiography. Leptin and resistin levels were higher in UCRHTN, whereas adiponectin levels were lower in this same subgroup. Similarly, arterial stiffness, LVH and MA were higher in UCRHTN subgroup. Adiponectin levels negatively correlated with PWV (r=-0.42, P<0.01), and MA (r=-0.48, P<0.01) only in UCRHTN. Leptin was positively correlated with PWV (r=0.37, P=0.02) in UCRHTN subgroup, whereas resistin was not correlated with TOD in both subgroups. Adiponectin is associated with arterial stiffness and renal injury in UCRHTN patients, whereas leptin is associated with arterial stiffness in the same subgroup. Taken together, our results showed that those adipokines may contribute to vascular and renal damage in UCRHTN patients. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.286388392Calhoun, D.A., Jones, D., Textor, S., Goff, D.C., Murphy, T.P., Toto, R.D., Resistant hypertension: Diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment: A scientific statement from the american heart association professional education committee of the council for high blood pressure research (2008) Circulation, 117, pp. e510-e526Vakili, B.A., Okin, P.M., Devereux, R.B., Prognostic implications of left ventricular hypertrophy (2001) Am Heart J, 141, pp. 334-341Vlek, A.L., Van Der Graaf, Y., Spiering, W., Algra, A., Visseren, F.L., Cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality by albuminuria and decreased glomerular filtration rate in patients with vascular disease (2008) J Intern Med, 264, pp. 351-360Laurent, S., Boutouyrie, P., Asmar, R., Gautier, I., Laloux, B., Guize, L., Aortic stiffness is an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in hypertensive patients (2001) Hypertension, 37, pp. 1236-1241Martins, L.C., Figueiredo, V.N., Quinaglia, T., Boer-Martins, L., Yugar-Toledo, J.C., Martin, J.F., Characteristics of resistant hypertension: Ageing, body mass index, hyperaldosteronism, cardiac hypertrophy and vascular stiffness (2011) J Hum Hypertens, 25, pp. 532-538Quinaglia, T., Martins, L.C., Figueiredo, V.N., Santos, R.C., Yugar-Toledo, J.C., Martin, J.F., Non-dipping pattern relates to endothelial dysfunction in patients with uncontrolled resistant hypertension (2011) J Hum Hypertens, 25, pp. 656-664Fonseca-Alaniz, M.H., Takada, J., Alonso-Vale, M.I., Lima, F.B., Adipose tissue as an endocrine organ: From theory to practice (2007) J Pediatr (Rio J), 83, pp. S192-S203Chow, W.S., Cheung, B.M., Tso, A.W., Xu, A., Wat, N.M., Fong, C.H., Hypoadiponectinemia as a predictor for the development of hypertension: A 5-year prospective study (2007) Hypertension, 49, pp. 1455-1461Schutte, R., Huisman, H.W., Schutte, A.E., Malan, N.T., Leptin is independently associated with systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure and arterial compliance in hypertensive African women with increased adiposity: The POWIRS study (2005) J Hum Hypertens, 19, pp. 535-541Zhang, L., Curhan, G.C., Forman, J.P., Plasma resistin levels associate with risk for hypertension among nondiabetic women (2010) J Am Soc Nephrol, 21, pp. 1185-1191Fang, C., Lei, J., Zhou, S.X., Zhang, Y.L., Yuan, G.Y., Wang, J.F., Association of higher resistin levels with in?ammatory activation and endothelial dysfunction in patients with essential hypertension (2013) Chin Med J (Engl), 126, pp. 646-649Youn, J.C., Kim, C., Park, S., Lee, S.H., Kang, S.M., Choi, D., Adiponectin and progression of arterial stiffness in hypertensive patients (2011) Int J Cardiol, 163 (3), pp. 316-319Hong, S.J., Park, C.G., Seo, H.S., Oh, D.J., Ro, Y.M., Associations among plasma adiponectin, hypertension, left ventricular diastolic function and left ventricular mass index (2004) Blood Press, 13, pp. 236-242Wannamethee, S.G., Tchernova, J., Whincup, P., Lowe, G.D., Kelly, A., Rumley, A., Plasma leptin: Associations with metabolic, in?ammatory and haemostatic risk factors for cardiovascular disease (2007) Atherosclerosis, 191, pp. 418-426Zhu, W., Cheng, K.K., Vanhoutte, P.M., Lam, K.S., Xu, A., Vascular effects of adiponectin: Molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic intervention (2008) Clin Sci (Lond), 114, pp. 361-374Kartal, O., Inal, V., Baysan, O., Saglam, K., Relationship between serum leptin levels and left ventricular hypertrophy in obese hypertensive patients (2008) Anatol J Cardiol, 8, pp. 342-346Schutte, A.E., Huisman, H.W., Schutte, R., Van Rooyen, J.M., Malan, L., Fourie, C.M.T., Adipokines and cardiometabolic function: How are they interlinked? (2010) Regul Peptides, 164, pp. 133-138De Haro Moraes, C., Figueiredo, V.N., De Faria, A.P., Barbaro, N.R., Sabbatini, A.R., Quinaglia, T., High-circulating leptin levels are associated with increased blood pressure in uncontrolled resistant hypertension (2013) J Hum Hypertens, 27, pp. 225-230De Faria, A.P.C., Demacq, C., Figueiredo, V.N., Moraes, C.H., Santos, R.C., Sabbatini, A.R., Hypoadiponectinemia and aldosterone excess are associated with lack of blood pressure control in subjects with resistant hypertension (2013) Hypertens Res, 36, pp. 1067-1072Laurent, S., Cockcroft, J., Van Bortel, L., Boutouyrie, P., Giannattasio, C., Hayoz, D., Expert consensus document on arterial stiffness: Methodological issues and clinical applications (2006) Eur Heart J, 27, pp. 2588-2605Lang, R.M., Bierig, M., Devereux, R.B., Flachskampf, F.A., Foster, E., Pellikka, P.A., Recommendations for chamber quantification: A report from the American Society of echocardiography's guidelines and standards committee and the chamber quantification writing group, developed in conjunction with the european association of echocardiography, a branch of the european society of cardiology (2005) J Am Soc Echocardiogr, 18 (12), pp. 1440-1463(2000) World Health Organ Tech Rep ser, 894 (1-19), pp. 1-253. , Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. Report of a WHO consultationEhrhart-Bornstein, M., Arakelyan, K., Krug, A.W., Scherbaum, W.A., Bornstein, S.R., Fat cells may be the obesity-hypertension link: Human adipogenic factors stimulate aldosterone secretion from adrenocortical cells (2004) Endocr Res, 30, pp. 865-870Kadowaki, T., Yamauchi, T., Adiponectin and adiponectin receptors (2005) Endocr Rev, 26, pp. 439-451Zieman, S.J., Melenovsky, V., Kass, D.A., Mechanisms, pathophysiology, and therapy of arterial stiffness (2005) Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, 25, pp. 932-943Tsioufis, C., Dimitriadis, K., Chatzis, D., Vasiliadou, C., Tousoulis, D., Papademetriou, V., Relation of microalbuminuria to adiponectin and augmented C-reactive protein levels in men with essential hypertension (2005) Am J Cardiol, 96, pp. 946-951Tesauro, M., Mascali, A., Franzese, O., Cipriani, S., Cardillo, C., Di Daniele, N., Chronic kidney disease, obesity, and hypertension: The role of leptin and adiponectin (2012) Int J Hypertens, 2012, p. 943605Meyer, C., Robson, D., Rackovsky, N., Nadkarni, V., Gerich, J., Role of the kidney in human leptin metabolism (1997) Am J Physiol, 273, pp. E903-E907Pladevall, M., Williams, K., Guyer, H., Sadurni, J., Falces, C., Ribes, A., The association between leptin and left ventricular hypertrophy: A population-based cross-sectional study (2003) J Hypertens, 21, pp. 1467-1473Bokarewa, M., Nagaev, I., Dahlberg, L., Smith, U., Tarkowski, A., Resistin an adipokine with potent proinfiammatory properties (2005) J Immunol, 174, pp. 5789-5795Windham, B.G., Griswold, M.E., Farasat, S.M., Ling, S.M., Carlson, O., Egan, J.M., Influence of leptin, adiponectin, and resistin on the association between abdominal adiposity and arterial stiffness (2010) Am J Hypertens, 23, pp. 501-507Zorad, S., Dou, J.T., Benicky, J., Hutanu, D., Tybitanclova, K., Zhou, J., Long-term angiotensin II AT(1) receptor inhibition produces adipose tissue hypotrophy accompanied by increased expression of adiponectin and PPAR-gamma (2006) Eur J Pharmacol, 552, pp. 112-122Koh, K.K., Quon, M.J., Han, S.H., Lee, Y., Kim, S.J., Koh, Y., Distinct vascular and metabolic effects of different classes of anti-hypertensive drugs (2010) Int J Cardiol, 140, pp. 73-81Ubaid-Girioli, S., Ferreira-Melo, S.E., Souza, L.A., Nogueira, E.A., Yugar-Toledo, J.C., Coca, A., Aldosterone escape with diuretic or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin II receptor blocker combination therapy in patients with mild to moderate hypertension (2007) J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich), 9, pp. 770-774Sowers, J.R., Whaley-Connell, A., Epstein, M., Narrative review: The emerging clinical implications of the role of aldosterone in the metabolic syndrome and resistant hypertension (2009) Ann Intern Med, 150, pp. 776-783