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Association of adipokines with blood pressure in rural Chinese adolescents

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 26, pages 493–501 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that adipokines influence blood pressure (BP). Limited data exist in healthy adolescents, who are in a critical period for preventing the development of high BP. This study investigated the association of leptin, adiponectin and the leptin-to-adiponectin ratio (LAR) with BP in rural Chinese adolescents. This report included 1245 adolescents (average body mass index: 19.3 kg m−2) aged 13–21 years from an established twin cohort. We examined gender-specific associations between plasma adipokines and BP, with adjustment for measures of adiposity and insulin resistance (IR). We estimated the genetic contribution to adipokines using the twin design and Cholesky decomposition models. There was no correlation between leptin and adiponectin levels. Leptin was positively associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) in males and diastolic blood pressure in females, but the association disappeared after adjusting for adiposity and IR. LAR was positively associated with SBP (β(s.e.): 1.94(0.45)), P<0.01), adiponectin was negatively associated with SBP (β(s.e.): −2.18(0.63)), P<0.001) only in males, and such associations were independent of adiposity and IR. A test of gender × adiponectin interaction was significant (P=0.01). Heritability estimation showed that both environmental and genetic factors contribute to variance in adipokines. In these relatively lean Chinese adolescents, leptin was positively associated with BP in both genders, but was adiposity/IR dependent. Adiponectin was negatively associated with SBP in males, independent of adiposity/IR.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by grants R01 HD049059 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; R01 HL0864619 from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and R01 AG032227 from the National Institute of Aging. We acknowledge the assistance and cooperation of the faculty and staff of the Anhui Institute of Biomedicine, Anhui Medical University and thank all study participants for their support. We thank Tami R Bartell for English editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, The Mary Ann and J Milburn Smith Child Health Research Program, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Children's Memorial Hospital and Children's Memorial Research Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    H Wang, J S Birne, K K Christoffel & X Wang

  2. Children's Healthcare Associates and General Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA

    J Necheles

  3. Institute for Biomedicine, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China

    Z Li, H Xing & G Tang

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA

    W J Brickman & D Zimmerman

  5. Department of Cardiology, FuWai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    H Wang

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  1. H Wang
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Correspondence to X Wang.

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Wang, H., Necheles, J., Birne, J. et al. Association of adipokines with blood pressure in rural Chinese adolescents. J Hum Hypertens 26, 493–501 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2011.64

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