Adipose tissue distribution in obese females. Relationship to androgens, cortisol, growth hormone and leptin.

Adipose tissue distribution predicts development of obesity complications better than total adipose tissue content. The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of the hormonal factors contributing to the adipose tissue distribution in obese females. The cohort examined consisted of 94 women in the range of overweight to obesity, aged 44.2 +/- 11.2 years (21-67), weight 100.1 +/- 17.5 kg (65.8-148), BMI 37.13 +/- 5.72 kg/m2 (26.4-50.7). Adipose tissue (AT) distribution was examined by CT at level L4/5 and intraabdominal adipose tissue and the subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue area (IAAT and SAAT, respectively) were determined. Growth hormone (GH), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), cortisol, testosterone, androstene-dione, SHBG, total thyroxine, total triiodothyronine (T3), TSH and leptin were assessed by routine methods by RIA and CLIA. GH, DHEA and DHEA-S correlated significantly negatively with IAAT (r = -0.24, p < 0.05, r = -0.30, p < 0.01, r = -0.34, p < 0.005, respectively). A borderline significant negative correlation of T3 with IAAT was shown (r = -0.20, p = 0.054). A significant positive correlation of SAAT with total testosterone and serum leptin was found (r = 0.27, p < 0.01, r = 0.64, p < 0.001, respectively). When comparing the difference of individual hormone levels between the 1st and 5th quintile of IAAT, no significant difference between the groups was found after adjustment for weight and age. In contrast, when comparing the 1st and 5th quintile according to the SAAT a significantly lower total testosterone and leptin in the 1st quintile of SAAT was found. Only in leptin the difference remained significant after adjustment for adipose tissue content. In conclusion, the results suggest that the relationship of individual hormones examined in this study to the central adipose tissue distribution are mostly mediated by age and adipose tissue content; they do not seem to be in a causal connection with the intraabdominal adipose tissue content. The only exception concerns leptin, which is significantly related to the subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue area.