OBJECTIVE: to correlate serum leptin concentration with bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women. METHODS: twenty-two healthy postmenopausal women were included in the present study. BMD was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry at the lumbar spine and femoral neck. Serum leptin concentrations were determined using an immunoradiometric assay. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA and Dunn and Pearson's correlation tests. RESULTS: mean BMD values were 0.898 ± 0.140 g/cm² at the lumbar spine and 0.760 ± 0.152 g/cm² at the femoral neck. Mean serum leptin concentration was 17.2 ± 9.4 ng/ml and no significant differences were observed among women with normal BMD, osteopenia and osteoporosis (18.6 ± 7.8, 18.9 ± 9.9 and 15.6 ± 10.6, respectively; p > 0.05). No significant correlations were observed between serum leptin levels and BMD measurements at the lumbar spine and femoral neck, when the whole sample was considered and when patients were divided into groups with osteoporosis and/or osteopenia and a control group. We observed a positive significant correlation between serum leptin levels and body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.66; p = 0.0044). CONCLUSIONS: there was no direct correlation between leptin and BMD in postmenopausal women, although we observed positive significant correlation between leptin and BMI. This fact indicates a possible indirect effect of leptin on bone metabolism.
Leptin; Bone mineral density; Body mass index
