Evidence-Based Medicine
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Apr 15, 2019; 10(4): 260-268
Published online Apr 15, 2019. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v10.i4.260
Are serum leptin levels predicted by lipoproteins, vitamin D and body composition?
Aysha Habib Khan, Syeda Sadia Fatima, Ahmed Raheem, Lena Jafri
Aysha Habib Khan, Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi 74800, Pakistan
Syeda Sadia Fatima, Department of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi 74800, Pakistan
Ahmed Raheem, Lena Jafri, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi 74800, Pakistan
Author contributions: Khan AH analyzed the data and contributed in discussion writing manuscript and made critical revisions related to the important intellectual content of the manuscript; Jafri L and Fatima SS conceived the idea, decided the design of the study, collected data, performed analysis and interpretation of the data, and participated in writing of the manuscript; Raheem A contributed statistical analysis and results writing; All authors gave final approval of the version of the article to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest arising from this work.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement has been submitted.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lena Jafri, FCPS, MBBS, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, P.O. Box 3500, Karachi 74800, Pakistan. lena.jafri@aku.edu
Telephone: +92-21-34861946 Fax: +92-21-24932095
Received: February 8, 2019
Peer-review started: February 10, 2019
First decision: March 11, 2015
Revised: April 11, 2015
Accepted: April 14, 2019
Article in press: April 14, 2019
Published online: April 15, 2019
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Both obesity and vitamin D deficiency are important health issues in Pakistan. The connection between body composition, Vitamin D and leptin in young adults is important to be studied as body composition may affect bone health and therefore the possibility of osteoporosis in later life. Few studies have attempted to investigate the effect of body composition and leptin with vitamin D in adolescence.

AIM

To investigate the association of serum leptin with body composition, lipids and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) in adults.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 167 apparently healthy adults. Demographics were recorded, bioelectrical impedance analysis was performed and clinical history noted. Serum leptin was measured using DIA source kit on ELISA and total 25OHD was measured on ADVIA-Centaur; Siemens. Total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein cholesterol were quantified using Enzymatic Endpoint Method and Cholesterol Oxidase-Phenol Aminophenazone method respectively. Biochemical analysis was done in the Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi Pakistan.

RESULTS

Median age of the group (n = 167) was 20 years (IQR 27-20); 55.7% were females. Majority (89.2%, n = 149) of the study group was 25OHD deficient, 6% (n = 10) had insufficient serum 25OHD levels and 4.8% (n = 8) had sufficient D levels. Females, had higher median leptin levels [2.71 (IQR 4.76-1.66 ng/mL)] compared to their counterparts [1.3 (3.60-0.54 ng/mL), P < 0.01]. Multiple regression analysis suggested that basal metabolic rate, muscle mass, body fat percent, bone mass and serum 25OHD were the most contributing factors to serum leptin levels. Bone mass and serum 25OHD in fact bore a negative correlation with leptin.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that basal metabolic rate, muscle mass, body fat percent, bone mass and serum 25OHD have an impact on serum leptin. Being a cross sectional study causal relationship between leptin and other variables could not be determined.

Keywords: Leptin, Vitamin D, Obesity, Vitamin D deficiency, Body fat

Core tip: The paper explored variables like anthropometric measurements, body composition, vitamin D and lipoproteins as predictors for serum leptin levels among representative population of healthy adults in Pakistan. The cross-sectional nature of this study could not elucidate causal relationships. However, it outlines important interplay between circulating leptin, vitamin D and body composition. The results indicate that basal metabolic rate, muscle mass, body fat percent, bone mass and serum vitamin D have an impact on serum leptin.