Background/Purpose
Whether blood leptin level is associated with cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and metabolic syndrome across gender and ethnic groups remain less clear. This study was investigated to the relations of blood leptin level with cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition (percent body fat, fat mass, total body water, lean body mass), and metabolic syndrome (weight, waist-hip ratio, WHR, waist circumstance, WC, hip circumstance, HC, body mass index, BMI, blood pressure, BP, total cholesterol, TC, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, HDL-C, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C, and triglycerides, TG) in Korean female college students.
Method
31 female college students (BMI: 22.59±3.09, age: 19.79±0.90) participated in this study. Harvard step test was assessed, and blood leptin level, percent body fat, fat mass, total body water, lean body mass, WHR, WC, HC, BMI, BP, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, and TG were measured. Pearson product-moment correlation was used to investigate the associations of blood leptin level with cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and metabolic syndrome.
Analysis/Results
Blood leptin level was inversely associated with cardiorespiratory fitness (r=0.27, p=0.02) and positively associated with percent body fat (r=0.24, p=0.04). The blood leptin level was significantly affected by weight, percent body fat, fat mass, WHR, WC, HC, BMI, PEI, LDL-C, and TG, respectively (p<.05).
Conclusions
We conclude that improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness may reduce blood leptin level, while being obese may increase blood leptin level in Korean female college students.