Abstract
Obesity is a state of relative leptin resistance, and obesity in childhood is associated
with an increased incidence of type 2 diabetes in later life. Offspring of mothers
with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are at increased risk of obesity. A cohort
consisting of 64 mothers, 33 GDM and 31 controls screened for diabetes during the
index pregnancy together with their 9-year-old offspring were studied. Our hypotheses
were: 1) an elevated child leptin is associated with elevated maternal leptin in GDM
mothers 9 years post delivery; and 2) child leptin at 9 years serves as a marker for
incipient insulin resistance. By univariate analyses, child leptins were only significantly
correlated with maternal leptins among the offspring of GDMs (OGDM) (r = 0.59; p =
0.001). By multivariate analyses, child leptin for the total study group was significantly
associated with child body mass index (BMI) (R2 = 0.65; p < 0.0001), child fasting insulin (R2 = 0.08; p = 0.03), and female gender (R2 = 0.28; p = 0.001). In addition, among OGDM child leptin was associated with maternal
leptin (R2 = 0.14; p = 0.005). Our results suggest that there is an association between maternal
and child leptin levels 9 years after a pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes.
Key words
Childhood - Leptin - Insulin Resistance - Pregnancy - Cholesterol - Body Mass Index
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M. P. Malee, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women and Infants' Hospital ·
101 Dudley Street · Providence, Rhode Island · USA ·
Phone: + 1 (401) 274-1122, ext. 2344 ·
Fax: + 1 (401) 453-7622