Abstract

A Comparative Study of Serum Leptin and Lipid Profile among Non-Diabetic Obese Subjects and Type 2 Diabetic Patients due to Obesity

Author(s): Manoj Gupta and Ranadip Mukherjee

Background: Obesity and diabetes are the major public health problems in developed as well as developing countries are associated with significant, potentially life-threatening co-morbidities. Insulin and leptin share a common central signaling pathway and there might be a possible role of leptin in the etiology of type 2 DM due to obesity. Moreover few studies have examined the apparent association between serum leptin and type 2 diabetes and those findings are not consonant, so it is useful to reevaluate leptin role in pathogenesis of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Materials and Methods: An observational case control study was conducted on OPD patients of SRMS Institute of Medical Science, Bareilly. 40 diagnosed type 2 diabetic obese patients and 25 non diabetic obese subjects were selected and all the biochemical parameters (plasma glucose, leptin and lipid profile) were compared with 25 healthy controls. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 20.0 version.
Results: We found that serum leptin levels were significantly increased in obese subjects as well as in diabetic patients (p<0.0001) when compared to control group. Significant positive correlation was observed between leptin and BMI both in obese and diabetic obese group. But serum leptin level was not significantly different ('p'=0.44) in obese group with DM in comparison to obese group without type2 DM.
Conclusion: From our observation, it can be concluded that the increase in serum leptin level is associated with obesity but not responsible for the development of diabetes type 2 due to obesity, though more elaborate study with increased sample size may provide more insights.