Relationships of Leptin and Anthropometry, Physical Work Capacity, Metabolic Syndrome in Chinese Postmenopausal Women

Postmenopausal women gain abdominal and visceral fat during the menopausal period. Leptin is an adipocyte-secreted hormone that is involved in metabolic disturbance disease. However, few studies have investigated the associations between leptin and metabolic syndrome (MS) in Chinese postmenopausal women. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of serum leptin and anthropometry, physical work capacity and MS in sixty Chinese postmenopausal women. Factor analysis extracted five factors characterized by leptin and obesity, muscle mass and physical work capacity, blood pressure and atherosclerosis, cardiovascular risk marker, and cholesterol, which accounted for 78.38% of the total variance. Leptin correlated positively with waist-to-hip ratio, body mass index and systolic blood pressure, and correlated negatively with physical work capacity of 75% heart rate max (R2 = 0.805, p < 0.001). Leptin levels in MS subjects with central obesity were higher than in both non-MS subjects (p < 0.01) and MS subjects without central obesity (p < 0.05). Subjects with a high leptin level had higher risks of the development of MS with central obesity than non-MS subjects (OR = 16.00, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.15-51.26, p < 0.01), and MS subjects without central obesity (OR = 16.00, 95% CI: 1.69-81.53, p < 0.05). In conclusion, serum leptin can be predicted by waist-to-hip ratio, BMI, physical work capacity, and systolic blood pressure. In addition, a high leptin level increases the risk of MS with central obesity.