MON-117 The Association of Adipocytokine Concentrations with Obesity and Metabolic Health in a Mexican-American Border Populations

Adipocytokines are hormones released from adipose cells. Their functions range from regulating hunger to regulating the metabolic effects of insulin. What role these hormones play in metabolic health and diabetes have not been studied in the Hispanic population. The present study examines associations between leptin, resistin and adiponectin levels in obesity and metabolic health in a Mexican-American border population, with a specific focus on leptin. We hypothesized that 1) Obese subjects display higher leptin levels, regardless of metabolic health and 2) Metabolically healthy subjects display higher leptin levels, regardless of obesity status. To study the association of plasma adipocytokines with weight and metabolic health, we performed a cross-sectional, retrospective study using patient data collected by the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort in Brownsville, Texas. Obesity is BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2. We determined metabolic health status by assessing the presence of the following four criteria: elevated blood pressure (SBP ≥ 130 mmHg and/or DBP ≥ 85 mmHg), elevated triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dL, low HDL cholesterol (males < 40 mg/dL; females < 50 mg/dL), and elevated fasting glucose ≥ 100 mg/dL (or use of hypoglycemic medications). The presence of < 2 of these criteria defined a subject as “metabolically healthy”. We categorized the patients into four groups: metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW, n = 245), metabolically healthy obese (MHO, n = 107), metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUHNW, n = 97), and metabolically unhealthy obese (MUHO, n = 187). We excluded persons < 18 years of age, current smokers, subjects with major cardiovascular events or active malignancy, and subjects using confounding medications. We conducted comparisons of log-transformed adipocytokine concentrations data between the groups using multivariable linear regression after adjusting for sex, age, BMI and hypertension. Leptin was significantly higher in MHO compared to MHNW (p < 0.0001) and MUHNW (p = 0.02), and significantly higher in MUHO compared to MUHNW (p = 0.01) and MHNW (<0.0001). Resistin was higher in MUHNW (p = 0.01) and MUHO (p = 0.03) compared to MHO. Adiponectin levels were lower in MUHO compared to MHNW (p = 0.002). In this Mexican-American population, the results showed that leptin levels were influenced by obesity and not by overall metabolic health status. These findings confirm Hypothesis number 1 and run contrary to Hypothesis number 2. Additionally, resistin levels were significantly higher in metabolically unhealthy patients irrespective of BMI, while both metabolic health and normal weight favored higher adiponectin. Obesity showed a robust association with leptin, metabolic health displayed a strong association with resistin, and both factors influenced adiponectin levels in this population.