BackgroundAdipose tissue hormones, Adipokines, play an important role in obesity-associated complications. Apelin has recently been added to the family of adipokines. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between serum apelin levels and metabolic abnormal parameters in Egyptian obese women.Materials and methodsThe study included 400 unrelated women; they were 200 obese women and 200 non- obese matched healthy women. All participants underwent clinical, anthropometric and biochemical examinations. Insulin resistance (IR) was determined by the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Serum apelin levels and obesity biomarkers were measured using enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) kits. Fat mass was measured by Tanita Body Composition Analyzer.ResultsObese women showed significant higher levels of serum apelin, leptin, triglycerides, LDL-C, total cholesterol, fasting insulin HOMA-IR and blood pressure levels than controls. Significant positive correlations between apelin and leptin levels with abnormal metabolic markers were noted in obese women.ConclusionThe present study suggests the significant role that might be mediated by apelin for developing abnormal metabolic parameters among Egyptian obese women.

AIM:To assess the associations between the body adiposity indices and risk of metabolic syndrome (MS) and its components in Egyptian women and to evaluate their predictive power.MATERIALS AND METHODS:This was a cross-sectional analysis performed on 180 Egyptian women aged between 25-35 years. They were 90 women with MS diagnosed by International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and 90 healthy age matched controls. Body adiposity index (BAI), body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR) and waist to height ratio (WHtR) were calculated and serum samples were analyzed for metabolic parameters. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) was used to determine the discriminatory capacity of BAI, WHR WHtR and BMI for MS.RESULTS:Area under the curve (AUC) was highest for BIA, followed by WHR, WHtR and then BMI. All adiposity indices were significantly correlated with metabolic components and BAI had the highest correlation coefficients compared to other indices.CONCLUSION:BAI is a practical predictor for MS and has satisfactory diagnostic accuracy for diagnosing MS among Egyptian women and can be used in addition to WHR, WHtR and BMI for identifying MS in the field studies.

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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is frequently related to obesity and metabolic alterations. This study aimed to assess the relation between NAFLD and metabolic syndrome (MS) in obese premenopausal women and investigate the impact of NAFLD on occurrence of metabolic syndrome components. The study comprised 180 non-smoking premenopausal obese women. They were 90 with NAFLD and 90 with normal liver, aged 25 to 35 years. Abdominal ultrasonography was used to diagnose fatty liver disease. MS was diagnosed according to the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Metabolic syndrome was found in 22.2% and in 83.3% of the normal and fatty liver cases, respectively, with significant difference. Cases with NAFLD had significantly higher levels of triglyceride, glucose, ALT, cholesterol, HOMA-IR and waist circumference than those than those with the normal fatty liver. In fatty liver group, the majority of cases had central obesity (88.8%), followed by hypertriglyceridemia (85.5%), hyperinsulinemia (84.4 %), hyperglycemia (83.3%) and hypertension (81.1%). All metabolic syndrome components were significantly elevated in the cases with fatty liver than those with in normal liver cases. The strongest associations of an individual component of meta­bolic syndrome with NAFLD were hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-cholesterol. A higher percentage of NAFLD was observed in cases with three components followed by four components of the metabolic syndrome. NAFLD is correlated positively with metabolic risk components. It was associated with higher ratios of metabolic components; hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-cholesterol level had the strongest positive association. This suggests the importance of these components in screening of NAFLD among obese premenopausal women.