Abstract

Background: Leptin may participate in the pathogenesis of atherogenesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between fasting serum leptin concentration and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) in geriatric people.

Methods: Fasting blood samples were obtained from 80 geriatric people. cfPWV measurements were performed using the SphygmoCor system. Serum leptin levels were measured using a commercially available enzyme immunoassay kit. Geriatric adults with cfPWV values of > 10 m/s were classified in the high arterial stiffness group.

Results: Thirty-nine geriatric adults (48.8%) who belonged to the high arterial stiffness group were higher incidence of diabetes mellitus (p = 0.045), higher body weight (p = 0.008), body mass index (p < 0.001), systolic blood pressure (p = 0.019), elevated serum blood urea nitrogen (p = 0.018), creatinine (p = 0.045), intact parathyroid hormone levels (p = 0.037), and leptin levels (p = 0.013) than their counterparts in the control group. A multivariable logistic regression analysis identified leptin as an independent predictor of arterial stiffness in geriatric adults (odds ratio, 1.028; 95% confidence interval, 1.004–1.054; p = 0.024). Multivariable forward stepwise linear regression analysis also showed that serum logarithmically transformed leptin level (log-leptin, β = 0.330, adjusted R² change: 0.092, p = 0.001) was positively associated with cfPWV values in geriatric people.

Conclusions: Serum leptin levels positively correlated with cfPWV in elderly adults.