Erratum inJ Hypertens. 2006 Jul;24(7):1447.AbstractBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Plasmaleptinlevels have been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.Leptinhas been shown to have sympathetic and vascular effects, and may increase cardiovascular risk through increased blood pressure,leftventricularhypertrophy, or atherosclerotic mechanisms. Thisstudyexamines whetherleptinlevels, independent of body mass and insulin resistance, are a risk factor for hypertension andleftventricularhypertrophy.METHODS AND PARTICIPANTS:Apopulation-based,cross-sectionalsample of 410 adults from rural Spain was studied. The correlations between plasmaleptinlevels andleftventricularmass index, sum of wall thicknesses, and blood pressure were calculated. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to adjust for other cardiovascular risk factors.RESULTS:After adjusting for age, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, sex, and insulin resistance,leptinwas inversely associated withleftventricularmass index (beta = -0.20, P < 0.01).Leptinwas also inversely related to the sum of wall thicknesses; however, thisassociationdid not reach statistical significance (beta = -0.12, P = 0.063).Leptinwas not statistically associated with blood pressure after adjusting for body mass index.CONCLUSIONS:The results do not support the hypothesis thatleptinincreases cardiovascular risk by increasingleftventricularmass index or blood pressure. Other mechanisms, related to atherosclerosis, could explain the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases observed with highleptinlevels.
