A comparison of plasma leptin levels in obese and lean individuals in the United Arab Emirates

Objective: The main objective of this study was to evaluate blood leptin as a marker of obesity and correlate it with anthropometric measurements. Patients and Methods: There were 70 healthy obese and 35 lean individuals. Fasting plasma leptin was determined by radioimmunoassay in both study groups. The vital signs, body weight and height were taken, and the skinfold thickness was measured over the triceps muscle and in the subscapular region. Results: The median leptin level in the obese was significantly higher than that of the lean controls (38 Vs 5.6 ng/ml, p < 0.0001). The females had a higher median leptin level than the males (41.3 Vs 22 ng/ml, p < 0.0001). Twenty-three of the seventy patients studied (32.8%) had normal leptin levels. The median systolic blood pressure and the fasting blood glucose in the obese were significantly higher than in lean controls (130 vs 120 mm Hg, p < 0.05 and 5.3 vs 5.0 mmol/l, p < 0.01 respectively). Leptin correlated well with the grades of obesity (Rs = 0.4, p < 0.01), BMI (Rs = 0.4, p < 0.001), triceps (Rs = 0.4, p < 0.01) and subscapular SFTs (Rs = 0.4, p < 0.001), but not with fasting blood glucose (Rs = 0.2, p = 0.2). Conclusions: The systolic blood pressure, fasting blood leptin and sugar are higher in obese than lean individuals. Leptin, is also higher in females than males and it correlates well with anthropometric measurements. However, it is not a perfect estimate of obesity, as 23 out of the 70 patients studied had normal leptin levels. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.