Study of serum leptin in newly diagnosed patients with essential hypertension

Abstract EN

The association of excess body weight with elevated blood pressure (BP) has been known for a long time.

In humans, the strong interrelation between Leptin, body mass index (BMI), and other measures of body fat have made it difficult to investigate the possible influence of that peptide on BP.

Hyper-leptinemia, body fat distribution, and age are positively associated with BP.

It was suggested that Leptin contributes to endorgan damage in hypertensive individuals such as left ventricular hypertrophy, retinopathy and nephropathy, independent of blood pressure.

The aim of this work was to study the association between plasma Leptin concentration in newly diagnosed lean and obese patients with essential hypertension.

The study was conducted on 37 hypertensive men (group A) and 40 control normotensive subjects (group B) ; each was subdivided into : Group (A1) : 19 lean men with essential hypertension.

Group (A2) : 18 obese men with essential hypertension.

Group (B1) : 20 lean men control group without essential hypertension.

Group(B2) : 20 obese men control group without essential hypertension.

The study subjects underwent full clinical and biochemical assessment.

Patients with secondary hypertension were excluded.

Serum Leptin was measured by Enzyme Amplified Sensitivity Immunoassay (EASIA).

The results were statistically analyzed and showed that patients with hypertension, both obese and lean, had significantly higher serum Leptin levels than their respective control groups, (24.6 ± 20.7 vs.

6.9 ± 6.6 ng / ml ; P < 0.001) with the obese hypertensive patients higher than lean hypertensive(40.93 ± 17.21 vs.

10.03 ± 7.01 ng / ml ; P < 0.001).

Highly significant positive correlation between serum leptin and the mean blood pressure was observed(r = 0.54, P = 0.001).

Highly significant positive correlation also existed between serum leptin and BMI(r = 0.39, P < 0.001 and waist circumference (r = 0.56, P < 0.001).

Significant correlation between serum leptin and all lipid profile parameters (Triglycerides, Cholesterol, HDL, and LDL) in all studied groups.

From the previous results our study suggests that hyperleptinemia plays a role in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension independent of the degree of obesity.

Further work is needed to investigate that relation