Plasma leptin and prognosis in patients with established coronary atherosclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between plasma leptin and prognosis in patients with angiographically confirmed coronary atherosclerosis.


BACKGROUND
Experimental studies suggest that leptin, an adipose tissue-derived hormone, exerts important cardiovascular effects.


METHODS
Study subjects were recruited prospectively from a cohort of patients undergoing clinically indicated coronary angiography (n = 382). The median duration of follow-up was four years. Follow-up information was available for 361 patients.


RESULTS
The combined end point of cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI), cerebrovascular accident, or re-vascularization occurred in 44 subjects. In the simple Cox model, leptin had a significant (p < 0.001) non-linear/cubic univariate relationship with the combined end point. Other variables associated with prognosis in the univariate analysis were body mass index (BMI), prior MI, insulin resistance, C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, and number of coronary vessels with >50% stenosis. A positive relationship between leptin and prognosis was also seen when leptin levels were split by quintiles, with a hazard ratio of 6.46 for the highest quintile. The only two variables significantly associated with the combined end point in the multivariate Cox model were leptin (p = 0.004) and number of coronary vessels with >50% stenosis (p < 0.001). A similar relationship between leptin and prognosis was observed when leptin was adjusted for BMI.


CONCLUSIONS
In patients with angiographically confirmed coronary atherosclerosis, leptin is a novel predictor of future cardiovascular events independent of other risk factors, including lipid status and CRP.
Wolk
Robert
R
Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Berger
Peter
P
Lennon
Ryan J
RJ
Brilakis
Emmanouil S
ES
Johnson
Bruce D
BD
Somers
Virend K
VK
D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000378:metabolism; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D015415:Biomarkers; D020738:Leptin; D005340:Fibrinogen; D002097:C-Reactive Protein