Abstract

The adipokines adiponectin and leptin play key roles in human metabolic regulation and have gained great attention as biomarkers for various metabolic pathologies. Though, pediatric reference values are few and needed. This study aims to establish age- and sex-specific adipokine reference percentiles based on healthy Danish school children. Further, it elucidates sex-specific differences in associations between z-scores of examined adipokines and metabolic variables. Serum adiponectin and serum leptin from 853 observations of healthy Danish schoolchildren aged 8–17 years (median 10.0) were quantified by immunoassays. Age- and sex-specific adipokine reference percentiles were calculated cross-sectionally using the LMS method, and adipokine z-scores were calculated from the fitted model. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine sex-specific differences in associations between adipokine z-scores and various metabolic variables. Girls had a higher median value of adiponectin (11.31 vs. 10.65 μg/mL, p < .001) and leptin (2.30 vs. 1.00 ng/mL, p < .001) and a lower median value of adiponectin/leptin ratio (4.64 vs. 10.76, p < .001) compared to boys. Sex-specific differences were found in associations between adiponectin z-score and HDL (p = .010), between leptin z-score and waist circumference z-score (p = .027) and LDL (p = .048), and between adiponectin/leptin ratio z-scores and waist circumference z-score (p = .044) and LDL (p = .040). Reference percentiles of adiponectin, leptin, and adiponectin/leptin ratio are presented in this paper. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate sex-specific differences in associations between adipokine z-scores and waist circumference z-score and lipids, respectively in healthy children and adolescents.

摘要

脂肪因子脂联素和瘦素在人体代谢调节中起关键作用，并作为各种代谢病理的生物标志物而备受关注。不过，儿科参考值很少且需要。本研究旨在基于健康的丹麦学童建立年龄和性别特定的脂肪因子参考百分位数。此外，它阐明了检查的脂肪因子的 z 分数与代谢变量之间关联的性别特异性差异。通过免疫测定对来自 853 名 8-17 岁健康丹麦学童（中位数 10.0）的血清脂联素和血清瘦素进行了量化。使用 LMS 方法横断面计算年龄和性别特异性脂肪因子参考百分位数，并从拟合模型计算脂肪因子 z 分数。多元线性回归模型用于检查脂肪因子 z 分数与各种代谢变量之间关联的性别特异性差异。女孩的脂联素中位数较高（11.31与10.65 μg/mL，p  < .001）和瘦素（2.30对1.00 ng/mL，p  < .001）和较低的脂联素/瘦素比率中值（4.64对10.76，p  < .001）进行比较给男孩。在脂联素 z 评分与 HDL ( p  = .010)、瘦素 z 评分与腰围 z 评分 ( p  = .027) 和 LDL ( p  = .048) 之间以及脂联素/瘦素比率 z 分数和腰围 z 分数 ( p  = .044) 和 LDL ( p = .040)。本文介绍了脂联素、瘦素和脂联素/瘦素比率的参考百分位数。据我们所知，这项研究首次证明了健康儿童和青少年的脂肪因子 z 分数与腰围 z 分数和血脂之间的关联存在性别特异性差异。