Plasma lipid and lipoprotein profile in elderly male long-distance runners

The purpose of this study was to evaluate plasma lipid and lipoprotein profiles in 30 elderly male long-distance runners (aged 66 +/- 5 years, body fat 12 +/- 2%, mean +/- SD) by comparing them with 30 middle-aged untrained men (43 +/- 8 years, 17 +/- 3%), 30 middle-aged endurance-trained men (45 +/- 8 years, 12 +/- 2%) who were matched for training distance to the elderly runners, and 15 elderly sedentary persons (65 +/- 4 years, 16 +/- 4%). Both elderly and middle-aged runners averaged 43 km/week in the latest year. Maximal oxygen uptake in the elderly runners (48 +/- 5 ml/kg/min) was 60% higher than in age-matched untrained men, but 15% lower than in middle-aged runners. Plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) was significantly higher in the elderly runners than in their age-matched counterparts (77 vs. 59 mg/dl), but not different from the middle-aged runners. The middle-aged runners had lower plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) concentrations than their untrained counterparts (114 vs. 129 mg/dl), whereas LDLC level in the elderly runners was almost identical to that of the age-matched untrained men (127 vs. 119 mg/dl). Total cholesterol concentration in the elderly runners (219 mg/dl) was 11% higher than in the age-matched untrained men, whereas there was no difference between the middle-aged trained and untrained men. The remarkable reduction of the LDLC/HDLC ratio in the elderly runners, therefore, is attributable to the elevated HDLC rather than lowered LDLC compared with the age-matched sedentary men (1.7 vs. 2.2).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)