Abstract
Data on how body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) are associated with body fat in the oldest-old people are scarce. The purpose of this study was to examine if BMI, WC or WHR are associated with leptin, a biological surrogate measure of body fat in 90-year-old people. The data comes from the Vitality 90+ Study, a prospective population-based study of people living in Tampere, Finland. BMI, WC, WHR and plasma concentration of leptin were available for 160 women and 54 men aged 90 years. BMI and WC had a strong significant positive association with leptin both in women and in men, but WHR was associated with leptin only in men. In conclusion, based on the circulating level of leptin, BMI and WC, and WHR in men, reflect body fat in 90-year-old people, but WHR seems to be a poor indicator of body fat in 90-year-old women.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baumgartner RN, Stauber PM, McHugh D, Koehler KM, Garry PJ . Cross-sectional age differences in body composition in persons 60+ years of age. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 1995; 50: M307–M316.
Ruhl CE, Harris TB, Ding J, Goodpaster BH, Kanaya AM, Kritchevsky SB et al. Body mass index and serum leptin concentration independently estimate percentage body fat in older adults. Am J Clin Nutr 2007; 85: 1121–1126.
Bouillanne O, Golmard JL, Coussieu C, Noel M, Durand D, Piette F et al. Leptin a new biological marker for evaluating malnutrition in elderly patients. Eur J Clin Nutr 2007; 61: 647–654.
Amirkalali B, Sharifi F, Fakhrzadeh H, Mirarefein M, Ghaderpanahi M, Badamchizadeh Z et al. Low serum leptin serves as a biomarker of malnutrition in elderly patients. Nutr Res 2010; 30: 314–319.
Lisko I, Tiainen K, Stenholm S, Luukkaala T, Hervonen A, Jylhä M . Body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio as predictors of mortality in nonagenarians: the Vitality 90+ Study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2011; 11: 1244–1250.
Zhang Y, Proenca R, Maffei M, Barone M, Leopold L, Friedman JM . Positional cloning of the mouse obese gene and its human homologue. Nature 1994; 372: 425–432.
Flegal KM, Shepherd JA, Looker AC, Graubard BI, Borrud LG, Ogden CL et al. Comparisons of percentage body fat, body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-stature ratio in adults. Am J Clin Nutr 2009; 89: 500–508.
Scafoglieri A, Provyn S, Bautmans I, Van Roy P, Clarys JP . Direct relationship of body mass index and waist circumference with body tissue distribution in elderly persons. J Nutr Health Aging 2011; 15: 924–931.
Ketel IJ, Volman MN, Seidell JC, Stehouwer CD, Twisk JW, Lambalk CB . Superiority of skinfold measurements and waist over waist-to-hip ratio for determination of body fat distribution in a population-based cohort of caucasian dutch adults. Eur J Endocrinol 2007; 156: 655–661.
Shimokata H, Andres R, Coon PJ, Elahi D, Muller DC, Tobin JD . Studies in the distribution of body fat. II. Longitudinal effects of change in weight. Int J Obes 1989; 13: 455–464.
Fain JN . Release of inflammatory mediators by human adipose tissue is enhanced in obesity and primarily by the nonfat cells: a review. Mediators Inflamm 2010; 2010: 51394.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lisko, I., Tiainen, K., Stenholm, S. et al. Are body mass index, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio associated with leptin in 90-year-old people?. Eur J Clin Nutr 67, 420–422 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.39
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.39
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
The influence of the rs1137101 genotypes of leptin receptor gene on the demographic and metabolic profile of normal Saudi females and those suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome
BMC Women's Health (2019)
-
Leptin induces osteoblast differentiation of human valvular interstitial cells via the Akt and ERK pathways
Acta Diabetologica (2017)