Abstract P140: Dynamic Relationships Between Body Fat And Circulating Adipokine Levels From Adolescence To Young Adulthood: The Santiago Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Introduction: Adipose tissue secretes adipokines such as adiponectin and leptin playing important roles in energy metabolism. Adiponectin has a protective effect against cardiometabolic diseases (CMD), whereas leptin increases risk of CMD. Although associations between plasma adipokines and body fat mass have been established, most have been cross-sectional, limiting causal inferences. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that 1. adipokines can affect body fat accumulation via the regulation of energy homeostasis and 2. adipose tissue can affect the amount of adipokines secreted. Thus, we assessed the associations between body fat percent (BF%) and adipokines during adolescence and 6 years later. Methods: Measurements for plasma leptin (N=622) and adiponectin (N=565) were available at age 16 and 22 in participants from the Santiago Longitudinal Study. BF% was measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry. Structural equation models were used to estimate longitudinal associations of BF% and adipokines at baseline and with 6-year changes in these values, adjusted for sex, time to follow-up, baseline age, physical activity, nutrition quality, smoking status, and alcohol consumption. Results: Effect estimates are shown in Figure 1 . We found evidence of association between baseline adipokine and BF% change and baseline BF% and adipokine change with the one notable exception a lack of association between baseline BF% and adiponectin change. Conclusions: Leptin and BF% were positively associated longitudinally, but the longitudinal associations between adiponectin and BF% were counterintuitive or non-significant. While there might be a close long-term relationship between leptin levels and body fat accumulation, the long-term relationship between adiponectin levels and body fat accumulation might develop after the adolescence and young adulthood transition.