Quantitative measurement of serum leptin in obese women and its relation to body fat

Abstract EN

This study was conducted on 40 females who were divided according to their BMI (body mass index) into two groups: “the obese group” which included 30 females and “non obese group” or control group which included 10 women of comparable age.

Serum leptin was measured in all subjects and correlated with body fat.

There was a highly significant statistical difference in the obese group as regards serum leptin level, BMI, FFM (fat free mass), total body fat, TAAT (total abdominal adipose tissue) and VAAT (visceral abdominal adipose tissue) (p < 0.001).

Also, there was a significant positive correlation between serum leptin and BMI, total body fat, VAAT, SAAT ( subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue) and serum insulin (r = 0.68, 0.62, 0.52 , 0.64, 0.59 respectively).

Again, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups as regards waist/hip ratio, SAAT and serum insulin (p < 0.05).

There was a significant inverse correlation between serum leptin levels and waist/hip ratio (rs = -0.41).

We concluded that serum leptin is elevated in obese women and can simply reflect the amount of adipose tissue stores.