Postnatal weight change is influenced by mother-newborn pair leptin levels

We investigated serum leptin levels in 103 mother-newborn-pairs; Cord leptin was significantly higher than mother's leptin (5.7 ± 5.5 vs. 22.1 ± 19.9 ng/ml; p <0.001). Cord leptin was significantly higher in females than males (6.9 ± 6.3 vs. 3.9 ± 3.6 ng/ml respectively; p <0.001), and correlated with maternal leptin (r = 0.24; p = 0.001), gestational age (r = 0.54; p <0.001), and birth weight (r = 0.56; p <0.001). Neonatal leptin at the 4(th) day significantly correlated with percent weight loss in the first four days of life. These observations shed light on the origin of cord leptin and on the role of leptin in postnatal weight loss. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc