A preliminary evaluation of the role of adiponectin and leptin in type 1 diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), as a chronicle disease, has been an emerging issue in the field of public health. In juvenile T1D, the effect of insulin on adiponectin and leptin has not been well studied nor understood. In this thesis we focused on the question concerning patient’s adiponectin and leptin level changes over a 5 month period before and after the start of insulin therapy in children with newly diagnosed T1D. A substantial focus of this project was the assembling of an analytical data file that could be used for the initial analysis and for future in-depth studies once updated data becomes available. Data cleaning and verification were carried out on all data sets. All programming was done using SAS 9.3 (32). We found no statistically significant difference in adiponectin levels between days 0 and 1, days 0 and 3; however there was a statistically significant increase in adiponectin levels between days 0 and 5 (post insulin therapy). Adiponectin levels remained significantly elevated at the 3 month visit. During the first five days leptin levels did not significantly differ from each other. However, at the 3 month visit the values were significantly higher from baseline. Adiponectin and leptin levels may serve as a good indicator for insulin sensitivity and provide a better understanding into the relationship with insulin therapy, thereby providing improvements in treatment for juvenile T1D.