Pediatrics & Neonatology
Volume 50, Issue 6 , Pages 255-260, December 2009

Association of Cord Plasma Leptin With Birth Size in Term Newborns

  • Wing-Kuen Tung

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Chi Mei Foundation Hospital, Tainan County, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Shio-Jean Lin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, National Cheng Kung University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yea-Shwu Hwang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Occupational Therapy, National Cheng Kung University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ching-Ming Wu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, National Cheng Kung University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yun-Han Wang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Science and Technology, Chung Hwa University of Medical Technology, Tainan, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Wen-Hui Tsai

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Chi Mei Foundation Hospital, Tainan County, Taiwan
    • Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Department of Pediatrics, Chi-Mei Foundation Hospital, 901 Chung-Hwa Road, Yung Kang, Tainan County, Taiwan

Received 25 November 2008; received in revised form 23 December 2008; accepted 12 February 2009.

Article Outline

Background

Leptin is secreted from adipose tissue and plays an important role in obesity. Recent studies have shown that the relationship between leptin and body fat mass may have ethnic differences. The purpose of our study was to investigate the relationship between venous umbilical cord plasma leptin and anthropometric markers in term healthy Taiwanese newborns.

Methods

Umbilical venous plasma samples were obtained from 98 term neonates (48 males and 50 females) and leptin levels were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results

Umbilical cord plasma levels of leptin were significantly higher in the female neonates than in males (p < 0.001). The large-for-gestational age and appropriate- for-gestational age newborns had significantly higher leptin cord plasma levels than the small-for-gestational age newborns (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively). In both male and female neonates, umbilical leptin levels showed significant positive correlations with birth weight and birth length. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that birth weight was the only significant predictor of umbilical cord plasma leptin levels in both male and female neonates. However, the slopes of the regressions between leptin and birth weight in male and female neonates were not different.

Conclusion

In Taiwanese healthy term neonates, leptin umbilical cord plasma levels are associated with sex and birth weight of the neonate. The relationship between leptin and birth weight may differ among different ethnic groups. These findings imply that the relationship between leptin and body fat mass may develop early in life.

Key Words:  birth weight , leptin , newborn , obesity , umbilical cord blood

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PII: S1875-9572(09)60073-5

doi:10.1016/S1875-9572(09)60073-5

Pediatrics & Neonatology
Volume 50, Issue 6 , Pages 255-260, December 2009

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