ESPE Abstracts

Background: Obesity has increased drastically in the last few years. It’s well known the connection between intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and the development of metabolic syndrome based on the thrifty phenotype. Some studies have proposed that a poor intrauterine environment could lead to the development of chronic conditions later in life, and its believed leptin is involved in this process.

Objective and hypotheses: Establish the mean of leptin in the full term newborns born in the Hospital Gineco-Obstétrico ‘Isidro Ayora’ and the influence of intrauterine growth restriction in this mean. Leptin levels found in full term newborns born in the Hospital Gineco-Obstétrico ‘Isidro Ayora’ with IUGR are significantly lower than the levels found in newborns without IUGR.

Method: Comparative cross-sectional study with 90 full term newborns randomly selected divided into two groups: Group A: 45 newborns without IUGR and Group B: 45 newborns with IUGR. All the newborns met the following criteria: normal singleton delivery, with Hispanic parents, and a 5 min APGAR score ≥7. We used cord blood to measure leptin concentrations with an ELISA method.

Results: Serum leptin concentrations were significantly lower in IUGR newborns than in newborns without IUGR (3.06±2.22 ng/ml vs 4.64±2.69 ng/ml; P=0.0032). Serum leptin concentrations were higher in female than in male (5.06±2.55 ng/ml vs 2.59±1.93 ng/ml). Serum leptin levels were positively correlated with birth weight and gestational age.

Conclusion: Lower serum leptin concentrations found in IUGR newborns will indicate that an alteration in the intrauterine environment will lead to change in endocrine axes and will result in excessive weight gain, fat storage, and insulin resistance. These levels are apparently lower in both groups compared to the levels found in Caucasian newborns.