Leptin is closely related to body fat in prepubertal children aged 8–11 years

Abstract

Background: In adults and obese children, serum leptin concentrations are closely related to body fat. Aim: To investigate whether such a relationship between leptin concentrations and body fat is also evident in children with a relatively normal body composition. Methods: The study was a cross‐sectional population study in 170 Caucasian children (91 boys and 79 girls), with a mean age of 9.9±0.6 y (range 8.5–10.9 y) and a mean BMI of 17.4±2.6 (range 12.8–28.1). Serum leptin was measured and compared to total body fat as determined by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry. Results: In the whole population, serum leptin concentrations were highly correlated with total body fat (r=0.83, pp=0.003). Gender differences still prevailed (p=0.007) after adjusting for number of kilograms of fat tissue. Conclusion: This study shows that, already at the young age of 9–11 y, an adult‐like pattern of regulation of leptin exists. This indicates similar risk factor dependency of leptin across all age groups.