Cord blood cholesterol, triglyceride, and lipoprotein pattern from two districts in Norway

Lipid levels of cord blood from two districts in Norway were studied. Although the mean levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the two populations were similar, high cord blood lipid levels were more frequently found in a population in Finnmark in northern Norway than in Bergen in western Norway. In Bergen the 95-percentile value for both cholesterol and triglycerides was 90 mg/100 ml. In Finnmark the corresponding values were 100 and 115 mg/100 ml. The lipid levels in cord blood from children of Norwegian, Finnish, and Lappish origin were nearly identical. The frequency of lipoprotein subfractions as distinct bands between beta and pre-beta fractions in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was the same in the two populations. Thus no genetic difference was found in lipoprotein patterns of cord blood in the populations of western and northern Norway.