PLASMA-LIPOPROTEIN LEVELS AND THE PREVALENCE OF HYPERLIPOPROTEINEMIA IN A CANADIAN WORKING POPULATION

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 122  (1) , 37-+
Abstract
The lipids and lipoproteins cholesterol (C), triglyceride (TG) and high-desnity, low-density, very-low-density and sinking pre-.beta.-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, LDL-C, VLDL-C and SPB-C, respectively), in plasma samples from 1620 fasting white adults and children from the Toronto-Hamilton area were analyzed. The mean concentration of HDL-C was about 45 mg/dl in men and about 60 mg/dl in women, and the levels were constant throughout adult life in both sexes. Boys had higher mean HDL-C levels than men, but girls had lower mean HDL-C levels than women. Mean LDL-C levels, like total C levels, increased with age, from about 87 mg/dl in boys to 136 mg/dl in men, and from about 91 mg/dl in girls to 145 mg/dl in women. The mean levels of VLDL-C followed the TG patterns for age and sex, rising from about 7 mg/dl in boys to 26 mg/dl in men, and from about 11 mg/dl in girls to 19 mg/dl in women. SPB-C was detectable visually in 39% of the population and with the aid of densitometry in 54%; the levels were not related to age, sex or oral contraceptive use, and the median level was 3 mg/dl. Prevalence estimates of hyperlipoproteinemia showed that type IV was the most common, and it was found more than 3 times as often in men as in women. This was in part due to the customary use of plasma TG cut-off points that do not reflect the large difference in TG levels between males and females. Type IIa hyperlipoprotenemia was found in about 2% of the adults and type IIb in a further 1%. Types I, III and V were all rare. The prevalence of types II and IV hyperlipoproteinemia was 4 times greater in women using oral contraceptives than in nonusers in the same age range.