title: Plasma leptin in non-diabetic Asian Indians: association with abdominal adiposity.
abstract: Plasma leptin concentrations were measured in 144 non-diabetic men and women (age 21-73 years, BMI 14.8-37.7 kg m(-2)), in fasting samples collected during a population survey for diabetes mellitus. Leptin, fasting and 2-h post-glucose load plasma concentrations of glucose and immunoreactive insulin were measured. In a subset of 50 normoglycaemic individuals, subcutaneous fat (SF) and visceral fat (VF) areas at L4-L5 level were also measured by CT. As in other populations, women had significantly higher plasma leptin concentrations than men (p < 0.001) but the values were similar in normal (NGT) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Geometric mean concentrations of leptin in men and women with NGT were 4.8 and 17.7 ng ml(-1), respectively, and the corresponding values in IGT were 6.2 and 19.0 ng ml(-1). Multiple regression analysis in the total group showed that the leptin concentration (log-transformed) was strongly dependent on sex (R2 = 53.4%), BMI (R2 = 17.4%), and to a lesser degree on the 2-h plasma insulin (R2 = 2.4%) and the WHR (R2 = 0.8%). In men, the total abdominal fat showed a strong association with leptin (R2 = 49.3%) and in women the subcutaneous fat area showed a similar effect (R2 = 39.5%). It is likely that subcutaneous and not visceral fat may be a determinant of plasma leptin in Asian Indians, and the correlation between leptin and insulin resistance may be less strong than in other ethnic groups.
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Research Centre, Royapuram, Madras, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramachandran
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Snehalatha
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vijay
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Satyavani
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Latha
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Haffner
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001823:Body Composition; D001824:Body Constitution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D020738:Leptin; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014781:Viscera
chemical_list: D020738:Leptin; D011506:Proteins