Correlation of serum leptin with anthropometric parameters and abdominal fat depots determined by ultrasonography in overweight and obese women

Abstract

Leptin is an adipocytokine that has an important role in energy homeostasis and therefore in the pathophysiology of obesity. Leptin levels are influenced by many factors such as gender, race, energy intake, fat mass, etc. The aim of our study is to investigate the relationship of circulating leptin levels to anthropometric parameters and to the subcutaneous and visceral fat tissue determined by ultrasonography in healthy overweight and obese women. The study included 50 healthy women, with body mass index (BMI) above 25 kg/m2. Measurements of anthropometric parameters were performed with a standardized technique. The subcutaneous and visceral fat tissue was measured with ultrasound 1 cm above the umbilicus. Leptin was determined by radioimmunoassay. The serum leptin levels presented a positive correlation between the levels of leptin and BMI (r-0.73, p < 0.05) waist circumference (r-0.73, p < 0.05) hip circumference (r-0.74, p < 0.05), thigh circumference (r-0.56, p < 0.05) and abdominal subcutaneous fat tissue (r- 0.46, p < 0.05). There was no correlation between leptin and visceral fat tissue, waist to hip and waist to thigh ratio. The results of our study confirmed the correlation between leptin and BMI. The correlation between leptin and all measured circumferences cannot be attributed to a particular fat depot, but rather reflect the correlation between this adipocytokine and the total body fat. The subcutaneous fat depot determined by ultrasound showed a correlation with leptin, while this kind of connection was not established for the visceral fat tissue. Key words: Leptin, abdominal subcutaneous fat, abdominal visceral fat