The Influence of Overweight and Obesity on Longitudinal Trends in Maternal Serum Leptin Levels During Pregnancy

Abstract

Maternal obesity influences a number of metabolic factors that can affect the course of pregnancy. Among these factors, leptin plays an important role in energy metabolism and fetal development during pregnancy. Our objective was to estimate the influence of maternal overweight/obesity on variation in the maternal serum leptin profile during pregnancy. In a prospective cohort of 143 adult gravidas with singleton pregnancies presenting for general prenatal care, we measured serum leptin levels at 6–10, 10–14, 16–20, 22–26, and 32–36 weeks' gestation. The longitudinal effects of maternal prepregnancy BMI, categorized as nonoverweight (≤26.0 kg/m2) and overweight/obese (>26.0 kg/m2), on serum leptin concentration were analyzed using linear mixed models. Overweight/obese women had significantly higher serum leptin concentrations than their nonoverweight counterparts throughout pregnancy (P < 0.01). Although these concentrations increased significantly across gestation for both groups, the rate of increase was significantly smaller for overweight/obese women (P < 0.05). To investigate whether these differences merely reflected differences in weight‐gain patterns between the two groups, we examined an index of leptin concentration per unit body weight (leptin (ng/ml)/weight (kg)). Overweight/obese women had a significantly higher index throughout pregnancy (P < 0.01). However, although this index increased significantly across pregnancy for nonoverweight women, it actually decreased significantly for overweight/obese women (P < 0.01). Our results suggest that factors other than fat mass alone influence leptin concentrations in overweight/obese women compared to normal‐weight women during pregnancy. Such factors may contribute to differences in the intrauterine environment and its influence on pregnancy outcomes in the two groups.

Maternal obesity and inflammatory mediators: A controversial association

“…Several studies have shown that weight gain during pregnancy is lower in obese than in non-obese women. 37,44,90,91 It is possible that non-pregnant obese women have a chronic increase of inflammatory mediators, and during pregnancy, these do not increase so much because the placental production of these factors is lower than that of adipose tissue. More research is needed to establish the clinical utility of these inflammatory molecules in the management of obese pregnant women.…”

Influence of abnormally high leptin levels during pregnancy on metabolic phenotypes in progeny mice

“…Experimental and clinical investigations have shown that maternal obesity during pregnancy increases the risk of the offspring developing obesity (29,39,42). Obesity is characterized by elevated levels of leptin in both nonpregnant and pregnant females (23,30,33). The adipocyte cytokine leptin plays a key role in energy homeostasis regulation (22), and circulating leptin levels are proportional to the body adipose mass (13).…”

The role of hormones of adipose tissue in the development pregnancy complications in obese women

“…На метаболиче-ские нарушения, связанные с дисфункцией адипоцитов в жи-ровой ткани у женщин с ожирением, может повлиять уровень лептина во время беременности. Исследование Misra [29] было первым, четко продемонстрировавшим, что избыточная масса тела/ожирение женщин до беременности определяют качественно иной профиль лептина в течение беременности, по сравнению с беременными без избытка массы тела/ожире-ния. Избыток массы тела и ожирение авторы определили ин-дексом массы тела >26,0 кг/м 2 .…”