The association of maternal obesity and race with serum adipokines in pregnancy and postpartum: Implications for gestational weight gain and infant birth weight

Abstract Adiponectin and leptin are hormones known to play roles in maternal metabolism during pregnancy. Levels of these hormones have been demonstrated to vary based on adiposity and race. However, there is a lack of data concerning the relationship between race and the change of adiponectin and leptin throughout pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to examine serum levels of adiponectin, leptin, and leptin-to-adiponectin ratio (LAR) throughout pregnancy and to assess their association with gestational weight gain (GWG) and infant birth weight while considering the effects of race and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). Serum levels of adiponectin, leptin, gestational weight gain, and infant birth weight were measured in 80 pregnant women at early (12.4±1.3 weeks gestation), mid (20.6±1.3 weeks gestation), late pregnancy (29.2±1.4 weeks gestation), and 7-11 weeks postpartum (8.8±0.8 weeks). In women overall, serum adiponectin decreased across pregnancy and increased at postpartum (p = 0.17.) At each prenatal timepoint, both black race and obesity were associated with lower adiponectin (ps