Sex hormones and adipokines in healthy pre-menopausal, post-menopausal and elderly women, and in age-matched men: data from the Brisighella Heart Study.

Background: Sex hormones and adipokines seem to differently interact in both genders at different ages. Aim: To comparatively evaluate the serum level of adipokines and sex hormones in healthy non-pharmacologically treated premenopausal women, post-menopausal women, and elderly women, and in age-matched men. Subjects: From the historical cohort of the Brisighella Heart Study we selected 199 adult healthy subjects (males: 89; females: 110), aged 62.5 +/- 12.4 yr. Men and women included in the age-class subgroups were matched for body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressure, heart rate, fasting plasma glucose, plasma lipids. Results: Leptin did not differ among various age classes in men, while pre-menopausal women displayed significantly lower serum leptin than post-menopausal women (-6.7 +/- 2.2 pg/ml, p=0.036). Post-menopausal women had significantly greater serum leptin when compared with age-matched men (+13.1 +/- 2.0 pg/ml, p<0.001); the same was observed for elderly women when compared with elderly men (+11.2 +/- 2.3 pg/ml, p<0.001). At any age, women had significantly lower serum testosterone/estrone ratio than age-matched men (p<0.01). Serum DHEAS was inversely proportional to age in both genders. The main predictors of adiponectin level are age in men (p=0.027) and BMI in women (p=0.003). The main predictors of leptin level are BMI and the testosterone/estrone ratio in both sexes (p<0.05). The testosterone/estrone ratio is also the main predictor of ghrelin levels in women (p=0.006). Conclusion: Sex hormones and adipokines show specific interactions in the two genders and in different age-classes in a representative sample of adult healthy subjects