ABSTRACT
To determine the serum leptin levels in cord blood of Pakistani newborns and to ascertain the relationship between serum leptin and anthropometric parameters i.e. birth weight, length and OFC. A cross-sectional study. Place and Duration: Lady Dufferin Hospital and Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi from 1999 to 2000. Leptin concentration was measured in 110 newborns of mothers of normal antenatal history from venous cord blood, using Active Elisa Kit [DSL-10-23100]. Samples were selected according to availability. Mean birth weight, length and occipitofrontal circumference [OFC] were 3.0 +/- 0.4 kg, 48.7 +/- 2.3cms and 33.1 +/- 0.8 cms, respectively. Mean serum leptin levels was 10.0 +/- 7.5 ng/ml. Serum leptin levels were found to be positively correlated with birth weight [r = 0.16, p = 0.04], and OFC [r = 0.33, p < 0.01], whereas no significant relationship was found with length of the babies. The reported results suggest that leptin may play role in newborns body weight and energy expenditure as in adults and children