Relationship Between Leptin, Adiponectin, Bone Mineral Density, and Measures of Adiposity among Pre-Menopausal Hispanic and Caucasian Women

Abstract

Objective. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between fasting serum leptin and adiponectin levels with bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition in pre-menopausal, middle-aged Hispanic and Caucasian women. Objective. Participants' (68 Hispanic and 36 Caucasian) BMD and bone mineral content were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and body density was measured by hydrodensitometry. Serum leptin was determined by enzyme immunoassay and adiponectin by ELISA. Results. Hispanic women had significantly higher leptin, BMD, and fat mass (FM), and lower adiponectin than Caucasian women. There was no significant correlation between leptin and BMD for Hispanic or Caucasian women; adiponectin was inversely correlated with BMD in Caucasian women only (p = 0.01). In both Hispanic and Caucasian women, lean body mass and adiponectin best explained the variance in BMD (r² = 0.25, p < 0.001). Conclusion. These data demonstrate no significant relationship between leptin and BMD of pre-menopausal, middle-aged Hispanic and Caucasian women, and a significant inverse relationship between adiponectin and BMD in Caucasian women. The role of adipocytokines in the regulation of BMD remains inconclusive and may vary across ethnic groups.

Keywords:

• BMD
• ethnicity
• hormone
• leptin
• adiponectin

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHHD) (P 20 MD000548) through the Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center of the University of Texas at El Paso; and in part supported by Grant Number 5G12RR008124 (to the Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC)/University of Texas at El Paso) from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the NIH. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NCMHHD, NCRR, or NIH. The authors thank Dr. Kristin Gosselink for laboratory support and Charlie Potter, Clare Spence, Carlos G. Sifuentes, Bernadette Franco, and Misty Babbey for assistance with data collection.

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.