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Maternal type 1 diabetes influences adiponectin, leptin levels in adolescent offspring
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Adolescent girls born to mothers with type 1 diabetes have lower levels of adiponectin compared with adolescent girls born to mothers without diabetes; maternal disease is associated with higher levels of leptin and leptin-to-adiponectin ratio in both boys and girls, according to findings from a Danish study.
“In most studies of adiponectin and leptin, both hypoadiponectinemia and hyperleptinemia in adults are associated with higher metabolic and cardiovascular risk,” Zuzana Lohse, of the department of endocrinology at Odense University Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues wrote. “[Leptin-to-adiponectin ratio] has, therefore, been suggested to be a potential biomarker, which could distinguish between individuals at low and high metabolic risk and, thus, identify individuals susceptible to metabolic syndrome, [CV] events and development of type 2 diabetes.”
Lohse and colleagues analyzed data from 271 adolescent offspring of mothers with type 1 diabetes (mean age, 17 years) and 297 adolescents born to mothers without diabetes matched for age and sex (controls; mean age, 17 years). Researchers assessed serum adiponectin, leptin, glucose and insulin and calculated leptin-to-adiponectin ratio. Pubertal stage and total body fat measured via DXA were also assessed; all participants underwent a standard oral glucose tolerance test.
Researchers found that adiponectin levels were lower in girls born to mothers with type 1 diabetes (mean difference, –8%; 95% CI, –13.9 to –1.6), but the difference was attenuated after adjustment (mean difference, –6.2%; 95% CI, –12.6 to 0.7). There were no between-group differences for adolescent boys.
In both boys and girls, leptin levels were 30% higher in children of mothers with type 1 diabetes, despite similar total body fat measurements in both groups for boys.
Compared with controls, the leptin-to-adiponectin ratio was 32% higher in boys born to mothers with type 1 diabetes (95% CI, 4.5-67.3) and 43% higher in girls born to mothers with diabetes (95% CI, 20.5-70.9). Results persisted after adjustment for offspring age, Tanner stage and physical activity levels; however, after adjusting for total body fat, the differences persisted only for adolescent boys, according to the researchers.
They did not observe an association between adiponectin levels in offspring and maternal HbA1c during pregnancy, although leptin level and leptin-to-adiponectin ratio were associated with third trimester HbA1c levels in adolescent girls in unadjusted analyses.
“These results suggest that abnormal regulation of adipokines is a consequence of being born of mothers with [type 1 diabetes],” the researchers wrote. “In this study, we were not able to demonstrate a direct effect of maternal HbA1c in pregnancy on adiponectin and leptin levels and [leptin-to-adiponectin ratio] in adolescence, thus putatively other intermediary factors seem to be involved.” – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: Lohse reports no relevant financial disclosures. Four researchers report receiving speaker’s fees from Novo Nordisk; one serves on an advisory board for Novo Nordisk; one is participating in a multinational study in collaboration with Novo Nordisk.
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