Differences in the association of PAI-1 activity with the metabolic syndrome between African and Caucasian women A. Greyling, M. Pieters*, T. Hoekstra, W. Oosthuizen, A.E. Schutte School for Physiology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus), Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa Received 28 February 2006; received in revised form 20 April 2006; accepted 24 April 2006 KEYWORDS PAI-1; Metabolic syndrome; Obesity; Insulin resistance Abstract Background and aims: The association between PAI-1 act and markers of the metabolic syndrome is well established in Caucasian populations, but data on African subjects is lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate possible differ- ences between the association of PAI-1 act and markers of the metabolic syndrome in Caucasian and African women. Methods and results: Cross-sectional data were collected from 95 African and 114 Caucasian women in the Potchefstroom district of the North West Province, South Africa. Plasma PAI-1 act was almost twice as high in Caucasians compared to Africans (10.2 versus 5.2 U/mL, p < 0.001). Correlations between markers of the metabolic syndrome and PAI-1 act were remarkably stronger in Caucasians than in Africans. In multivariate regression analyses 56% of the variance of PAI-1 act could be explained by metabolic syndrome variables in the Caucasian group compared to 12% in the African women. Waist circumference was the strongest independent predictor of PAI-1 act in both groups. Conclusion: This study showed lower PAI-1 act in African than in Caucasian women, along with less associations of PAI-1 act with markers of the metabolic syndrome in the African than in the Caucasian women. The role of PAI-1 act in the metabolic syn- drome may be less prominent in Africans than in Caucasians. ª 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ27 18 299 2467; fax: þ27 18 299 2464. E-mail address: vgemp@puk.ac.za (M. Pieters). 0939-4753/$ - see front matter ª 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2006.04.006 Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases (2007) 17, 499e507 www.elsevier.com/locate/nmcd