HDL-cholesterol in a sample of black adults: the Framingham Minority Study

A group of 100 adult black residents of Framingham, MA were examined and their plasma lipids were determined by the Framingham Heart Study Lipoprotein Laboratory. The age range of the participants was 20-69 yr, and the mean age was 42 yr for both sexes. The mean plasma total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglyceride (TG) values for the 45 black men were 184,37.2, and 78 mg/dl, respectively. The corresponding levels for the 55 black women were 192,50.4, and 49. Even after adjusting for obesity, alcohol intake, and cigarette use, the HDL-C levels among the blacks were significantly lower (p less than 0.001) than the levels for Framingham white men and women. This black sample is more highly educated than black groups previously studied, and appears to be as active as the Framingham white sample. We conclude that this black population has quite low HDL-C levels, and the results suggest that the lipoprotein distributions in this group differ from those previously reported for blacks.