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Visceral adiposity is a predictor of parathyroid hormone levels in healthy adults

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Abstract

Purpose

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) has been shown to correlate positively with fat mass, however there are no studies that have investigated whether this association is a result of, or is modified by, body fat distribution. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of PTH with several body composition indices, namely visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous adiposity (SCAT) as well as with lean mass and with serum leptin, which has been reported to increase PTH.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study in which PTH was measured by chemiluminescent assay; body fat and lean mass by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and abdominal fat by ultrasonography in 714 healthy adults aged 18–65 years. Serum leptin was measured by ELISA.

Results

In a multivariate linear regression model that included height, age, gender, ethnicity, serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D, leptin levels, calcium, magnesium and phosphate concentrations, glomerular filtration rate, smoking status, and calcium and vitamin D supplementation as independent variables and PTH as the dependent variable, VAT (β = 0.094, p = 0.035) correlated significantly with PTH levels but SCAT (β = −0.045, p = 0.386) and body fat mass (β = 0.098, p = 0.126) did not. Leptin did not correlate with PTH (β = 0.013, p = 0.832) in this regression model.

Conclusions

Plasma PTH is significantly associated with VAT in healthy adults. In view of the association of PTH with increased cardiovascular mortality, it is important to investigate this association further.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the staff of the Medical Research Council/Wits Developmental Pathways to Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences and University of Witwatersrand for assistance with data collection, the Medical Research Council of South Africa and the Carnegie Foundation for funding this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Pathology, National Health Laboratory Service and University of the Witwatersrand, Room 3B 41, Third Floor, Medical School, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2193, South Africa

    J. A. George, M. Toman, T. Snyman & N. J. Crowther

  2. MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    S. A. Norris

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  1. J. A. George
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. A. George.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Siemens diagnostics supplied PTH kits, but played no part in the design, conduct analysis of data and write up of this study.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was obtained from each participant prior to participation in the study.

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George, J.A., Norris, S.A., Toman, M. et al. Visceral adiposity is a predictor of parathyroid hormone levels in healthy adults. J Endocrinol Invest 39, 447–453 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-015-0400-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-015-0400-x

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