Body fat distribution and serum lipoproteins in relation to age and body weight

Android obesity is reported to be a risk factor for coronary heart disease and aberrations in lipid metabolism, but so far its association with other risk factors such as age and overweight has not been clearly analyzed. We therefore investigated the relationship between the waist-to-hip ratio, age, body mass index and serum lipoproteins in 305 probands (158 men, 147 women), while body mass index was kept constant in all age groups. Waist-to-hip ratio correlated with both age (r = 0.441) and body mass index (r = 0.532) in simple linear correlation analysis (P less than 0.001). In stepwise multiple regression analysis we found in both sexes a first step dependence on age for total and LDL-cholesterol (P less than 0.001), a first step dependence on waist-to-hip ratio for triglycerides (P less than 0.001), VLDL-triglycerides (P less than 0.001) and VLDL-cholesterol (P less than 0.001 for men, P less than 0.05 for women), and an inverse first step dependence on body mass index for HDL-cholesterol (P less than 0.05 for men, P less than 0.001 for women). From these results we propose an independent association between waist-to-hip ratio and triglycerides while the relation to total and LDL-cholesterol is determined by age. HDL-cholesterol, on the other hand, is influenced by body fat mass and independent from age or body fat distribution.