Lack of independent relationship between plasma adiponectin, leptin levels and bone density in nondiabetic female adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: Adiponectin has been implicated in the pathophysiology of metabolic syndrome and coronary artery disease in humans. Whether adiponectin is related to bone mineralization remains unclear in adults as well as in adolescents. In this study, we aimed to determine the relationship between plasma adiponectin, leptin concentrations and bone density, including total-body bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) in adolescence.

PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS: We studied 105 nondiabetic female adolescents [mean age 15.4 +/- 1.9 years, and mean body mass index (BMI), 23.1 +/- 4.0 kg/m(2)]. A venous blood sample was taken after 12 h of fasting to measure fasting plasma adiponectin and leptin levels. BMD and BMC of the whole body were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

RESULTS: In simple correlation analysis, plasma adiponectin and leptin levels correlated significantly with total-body BMD (r =-0.523 and r = 0.443, P < 0.001, respectively) and BMC (r =-0.471 and r = 0.396, P < 0.001, respectively). However, plasma adiponectin and leptin were related to both BMD and BMC in opposite directions. In multivariate linear regression analyses, only BMI or fat mass (FM) and Tanner stage, but not plasma adiponectin and leptin, were significantly related to BMD and BMC following adjustment for other variables.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that plasma adiponectin and leptin concentrations are not related to the total-body BMD and BMC independent of the chronological age, BMI or FM, and Tanner stage in nondiabetic female adolescents, although they were highly correlated in simple correlation analyses. The biologic roles of adiponectin in bone still need further clarification.