Food & Nutrition

Arab Journal of Food & Nutrition
5. Evaluation of the Interaction between Serum Levels of Leptin and Uric Acid
and Waist to Height Ratio in Terms of Specificity and Sensitivity as Predictors of
Metabolic Syndrome in an Adult Jordanian Group (2010)
Ahmad Abdalla Obeidat\ University of Jordan
Supervisor: Dr. Mousa Numan Ahmad
Co-Supervisor: Dr. Fares Halim Haddad
This study was carried out in order to evaluate the predictive power of several
anthropometric indices of central obesity and the risk factor accumulation as defined
by the existence of two or more disorders among hypertension, high triglycerides
(TG), low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and elevated fasting
blood glucose (FBG); each of which is a component of metabolic syndrome (MS) in
an adult Jordanian group, to evaluate the associations between several anthropometric
indices of obesity and serum levels of leptin and uric acid (UA), as well as the
individual component of MS in the studied group, and to evaluate the interaction
between serum levels of leptin and uric acid and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in terms
of their specificity and sensitivity as predictors of MS in the studied Jordanian group.
In this study, 630 adult subjects (308 men and 322 women) aged between 20-70
years were recruited among the visitors attending the endocrinology clinics at the King
Hussein Medical Center, their companions and other volunteers. The diagnosis of
Metabolic Syndrome was made according to the International Diabetes Federation
(IDF) criteria. Anthropometric indices of obesity were body mass index (BMI), waist
to hip ratio (WHpR), waist circumference (WC), and waist to height ratio (WHtR).
Partial correlations were performed to evaluate the association between the study
variables, whereas receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to
determine the efficacy of anthropometric, clinical and biochemical indices as
screening measures for correctly identifying subjects with MS and to select
appropriate cut-off points for variables.
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The results indicated that, in men: WC had the strongest significant partial
correlation coefficients (r) with HDL-C (r= -0.556, p