Serum Vitamin D Level Correlates Significantly With Leptin and Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha in Overweight Postmenopausal Women With Hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Association of serum vitamin D (vitD) with leptin (Lep) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is not precisely known in overweight hypertensive (OW-HT) postmenopausal (PMP) women. Hence, the present study was carried out to investigate the body mass index (BMI)-based correlation of serum vitD with Lep and TNF-α in OW-HT PMP women. METHODS: Women subjects in their early PMP (n = 346, age: 51 - 60 years) categorized into three groups had main inclusion criteria of specified range of age, BMI and blood pressure (BP). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and other kit methods were employed to investigate the role of various variables in three subject groups (normal weight normotensive (NW-NT, n = 116, BMI (kg/m(2)): 22 - 24.9), normal weight hypertensive (NW-HT, n = 115, BMI: 22 - 24.9) and OW-HT (n = 115, BMI: 25 - 29.9) PMP women). RESULTS: A significant negative linear correlation of vitD with serum Lep and TNF-α, and a significant positive linear correlation of BMI with Lep and TNF-α in OW-HT PMP women were obtained. Significantly higher levels of serum Lep, TNF-α and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were found in OW-HT PMP women, as compared to NW-HT PMP women. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that decreased serum vitD levels correlate with the Lep and TNF-α in OW-HT PMP women. However, further studies may help understand the impact of vitD in cardiovascular events and the influencing factors in OW-HT PMP women.