Leptin is favourably associated with vascular function in obese Caucasians, but not in obese Africans

Schutte, Rudolph; Huisman, Hugo W.; Schutte, Aletta E.; Malan, Nicolaas T.

doi:10.1038/sj.jhh.1001922

Cited by 16 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The susceptibility of Africans to cardiovascular abnormalities including hypertension has been widely recognized and suggested to be multifactorial with hyperleptinaemia being regarded as one possible factor. 10 The latter is supported by the present findings revealing positive associations between leptin and Z c in the African but not in the Caucasian women. However, these data should be handled with care since proposed leptin-lowering effects of certain antihypertensive medication 11 might have confounded the results.…”

supporting

confidence: 81%

Determinants of aortic input impedance in two ethnic populations: impact of obesity

Reimann

Schutte

et al. 2007

J Hum Hypertens

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supporting

confidence: 81%

Determinants of aortic input impedance in two ethnic populations: impact of obesity

Reimann

Schutte

et al. 2007

J Hum Hypertens

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“…50,51 On the other hand, previous contradictory results have been found regarding ethnic differences in leptin levels. 52,53 Our results show that Africans have higher leptin levels than Caucasians, but it is noteworthy that the African group also recorded a higher BMI than their Caucasian counterparts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Carotid cross-sectional wall area is significantly associated with serum leptin levels, independent of body mass index: the SABPA study

et al. 2012

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Hypertension and obesity are serious health burdens in sub-Saharan Africa. Urbanized Africans seem to be more susceptible to the development of these diseases than Caucasians. Current research suggests that leptin may be an important contributor to the development of hypertension and atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate leptin levels and their associations with cardiovascular function in urbanized Africans and Caucasians. Serum leptin, ambulatory blood pressure and carotid intima-media thickness were measured, and the cross-sectional wall area (CSWA) was calculated. The results showed that Africans had higher leptin levels (Po0.001), ambulatory blood pressure (Po0.001), carotid intima-media thickness (Po0.01) and CSWA (Po0.01) than Caucasians. As we found no interaction between ethnicity and gender for the association between leptin and the cardiovascular variables, we focused mainly on the total group of Africans and Caucasians. In single, partial and multiple regression analyses, positive associations of ambulatory systolic blood pressure (b ¼ 0.256; Po0.001), diastolic blood pressure (b ¼ 0.143; P ¼ 0.012), pulse pressure (b ¼ 0.327; Po0.001) and CSWA (b ¼ 0.107; P ¼ 0.038) with leptin were observed. Even after adjusting for body mass index (BMI), the association between CSWA (b ¼ 0.107; P ¼ 0.038) and leptin remained. Our findings therefore suggest that leptin may contribute to the development of atherosclerosis, independent of BMI.

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“…Our research group has recently shown that the leptin levels of obese Caucasian women are favourably associated with vascular function, but this was not evident in obese African women. 31 Even though the results of the correlations (Table 2) of the present study showed strong relationships between inflammatory markers and cardiovascular parameters in both ethnic groups, results showed more and stronger correlations within the Caucasian women. Furthermore, adjustments for age and obesity resulted in no significant correlations between inflammatory markers and cardiovascular parameters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Some studies show that leptin is not related to ethnicity, 29,30 whereas others do. 31 The question therefore arises whether there is a difference in the levels of inflammation in black Africans compared to Caucasians. If so, this could at least partly explain the relatively high prevalence of hypertension in the African group.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inflammation, obesity and cardiovascular function in African and Caucasian women from South Africa: the POWIRS study

et al. 2006

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The integrated relationship between inflammation, obesity and cardiovascular disease is currently a subject of much research interest. These specific relationships, however, have not been studied in-depth in South African population groups in order to determine the role of ethnicity. It is known that Africans, compared to Caucasians, suffer from a high prevalence of hypertension. It was therefore hypothesized that the levels of inflammatory markers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), fibrinogen and leptin) are higher in Africans compared to Caucasians and are notably associated with cardiovascular dysfunction in Africans. Apparently healthy African (N ¼ 102) and Caucasian (N ¼ 115) women, matched for age and body mass index (BMI), were recruited. Leptin, hsCRP, fibrinogen and lipid levels, waist circumference (WC), BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cardiac output (CO), total peripheral resistance (TPR) and Windkessel compliance were measured. Results showed that the levels of leptin, hsCRP and fibrinogen were significantly higher (Po0.05) in the African women. The inflammatory markers correlated strongly with cardiovascular parameters, age and obesity (BMI, WC) in both groups, but after adjusting for age and obesity, none of the correlations were significant anymore. Multiple regression analyses (with leptin, hsCRP or fibrinogen as dependent variable) showed that only leptin levels of African women were explained by cardiovascular parameters (BP, TPR and CO). In conclusion, even though African women had significantly higher leptin, hsCRP, fibrinogen and blood pressure levels than Caucasian women, no cardiovascular parameters explained the variation in the inflammatory markers (except for leptin levels of African women).

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Leptin is favourably associated with vascular function in obese Caucasians, but not in obese Africans

Cited by 16 publications

References 36 publications

Determinants of aortic input impedance in two ethnic populations: impact of obesity

Determinants of aortic input impedance in two ethnic populations: impact of obesity

Carotid cross-sectional wall area is significantly associated with serum leptin levels, independent of body mass index: the SABPA study

Inflammation, obesity and cardiovascular function in African and Caucasian women from South Africa: the POWIRS study

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