Circulating Ghrelin, Leptin, and Soluble Leptin Receptor Concentrations and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in a Community-Based Sample

CONTEXT: The conjoint effects and relative importance of ghrelin, leptin, and soluble leptin receptor (sOB-R), adipokines involved in appetite control and energy expenditure in mediating cardiometabolic risk, is unknown. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to study the cross-sectional relations of these adipokines to cardiometabolic risk factors in a community-based sample. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We measured circulating ghrelin, leptin, and sOB-R in 362 participants (mean age 45 yr; 54% women) of the Framingham Third Generation Cohort. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Body mass index, waist circumference (WC), blood pressure, lipid measures, fasting glucose, smoking, and metabolic syndrome (MetS) were measured. RESULTS: Ghrelin and leptin concentrations were significantly higher in women (P < 0.0001). In multivariable models, ghrelin was inversely associated with age and systolic blood pressure, and leptin was positively related to body mass index and WC. sOB-R was positively associated with age, total cholesterol, and fasting glucose and inversely with WC and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Ghrelin and sOB-R concentrations were significantly lower with number of MetS components (P for trend = 0.022 and < 0.0001, respectively), whereas leptin concentrations were higher (P for trend = 0.0001). Relating all adipokines to MetS conjointly, higher ghrelin and leptin concentrations were associated with decreased and increased odds of MetS (odds ratio 0.55, P < 0.0001; odds ratio 4.44, P = 0.0002, per 1 sd increase of respective log adipokine). CONCLUSIONS: In our community-based sample, we observed a sexual dimorphism in circulating ghrelin and leptin concentrations. Ghrelin, leptin, and sOB-R were associated with number of MetS components cross-sectionally, consistent with the hypothesis that these adipokines may have a central role in cardiometabolic risk.