Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2009 Jan;52(1):37-43.

Correlation between the cord blood concentarion of leptin and maternal, placental, fetal factors in uncomplicated singleton pregnancy

• Kim ID
• Baek MH
• Kim RH
• Kim T

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Umbilical leptin concentrations have been associated with whole-body mineral content, fetal bone growth stimulation, pulmonary development in utero, nutritional intake, energy metabolism, and adiposity in children and adults. In this study, we investigated the effect of maternal factor, placental factor and fetal factor on cord blood leptin concentrations.
METHODS
We measured leptin concentration in umbilical cord blood using immunoradiometric assay in 50 women with uncomplicated singleton term pregnancies. we analyzed the correlation of leptin level with maternal age, sex, gestational age, smoking, placental weight, neonatal body mass index, maternal body mass index, head circumference, and chest circumference by simple linear regression.
RESULTS
There were significant correlation between leptin and gestational age, fetal BMI, head circumference, and chest circumference with correlation coefficient 0.244 (P=0.010), 0.182 (P=0.030), 0.243 (P=0.011), and 0.228 (P=0.014), respectively in the male neonates. There were significant correlation between leptin and fetal BMI with correlation coefficient 0.341 (P=0.003) in the female neonates. No statistically significant correlation between the concentration of leptin and neonatal gender was observed, in spite of higher mean value of female leptin concentration level. Also no statistically significant correlation between the concentration of leptin and smoking and drinking of mother was observed.
CONCLUSION
In this study, leptin is significantly correlated with maternal age, maternal BMI, gestational age, fetal BMI, and chest circumference. It was suggested that leptin level was more associated with maternal factor and fetal factor than placental factor.

Keyword

Umbilical cord; Leptin; maternal factor; Placenta factor; Fetal factor

MeSH Terms

Adiposity
Adult
Body Mass Index
Bone Development
Child
Drinking
Energy Metabolism
Female
Fetal Blood
Gestational Age
Head
Humans
Immunoradiometric Assay
Infant, Newborn
Leptin
Male
Maternal Age
Mothers
Pregnancy
Smoke
Smoking
Thorax
Umbilical Cord
Leptin
Smoke