Reduced leptin concentrations in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Sudan

• Published in: Metabolism, clinical and experimental Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 304 - 306
• Main Authors: Abdelgadir, M., Elbagir, M., Eltom, M., Berne, C., Ahr[eacute]n, B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01-03-2002; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; African Continental Ancestry Group; Aged; Associated diseases and complications; Basic Medicine; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Cell and Molecular Biology; Cell- och molekylärbiologi; Diabetes Mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - blood; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - ethnology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - physiopathology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - therapy; Diabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance; Diet Therapy; Endocrine pancreas. Apud cells (diseases); Endocrinopathies; Etiopathogenesis. Screening. Investigations. Target tissue resistance; Female; Homeostasis; Human; Humans; Insulin Resistance; Islets of Langerhans - physiopathology; Leptin - blood; Male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper; Middle Age; Middle Aged; Negroid Race; Non-Insulin-Dependent/blood/ethnology/physiopathology/therapy; Non-U.S. Gov't; Osmolar Concentration; Proinsulin - blood; Reference Values; Sudan; Sulfonylurea Compounds - therapeutic use; Support; Africa; Sudan; Endocrinopathy; Availability; Human; Homeostasis; Concentration; Glucose; Perturbation; Non insulin dependent diabetes; Blood; African; Body mass index; Leptin; Female; Serum
• ISSN: 0026-0495; 1532-8600; 1532-8600
• DOI: 10.1053/meta.2002.30504

Differences have been observed in the relationship between leptin and metabolic perturbations in glucose homeostasis. Because no information is available from indigenous African populations with diabetes, the purpose of this study was to investigate the possible associations between leptin and different clinical and biochemical characteristics of a large group of subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Sudan. A total of 104 (45 men and 59 women) consecutive type 2 diabetes patients and 75 control subjects (34 men and 41 women) were studied. The body mass index (BMI), blood glucose, serum insulin, and proinsulin were measured and related to serum leptin concentrations. Leptin was higher in females than in males and correlated significantly to BMI. The main novel finding was that serum leptin was significantly lower in diabetic subjects compared with controls in both females (P = .0001) and males (P = .019), although BMI did not differ between diabetic and nondiabetic subjects. Diabetic subjects treated with sulphonylurea (n = 81) had lower BMI than those treated with diet alone or other hypoglycemic drugs (n = 23) (P = .0017), but there was no difference in leptin levels between the 2 groups after adjustment for BMI (P = .87). In diabetic subjects, serum leptin correlated positively with the homeostatic assessment (HOMA) of both [beta ]-cell function (P = .018) and insulin resistance (P = .038), whereas in control subjects, leptin correlated with insulin resistance (P = .0016), but not with [beta ]-cell function. Diabetic subjects had higher proinsulin levels (P = .0031) and higher proinsulin to insulin ratio (P = .0003) than nondiabetic subjects. In univariate analysis, proinsulin showed a weak correlation to leptin (P = .049). In conclusion, we show in a large cohort of Sudanese subjects with type 2 diabetes that circulating leptin levels are lower in diabetic subjectss than in controls of similar age and BMI. The lower serum leptin in diabetic subjects may be a consequence of differences in fat distribution.