Blood lipids in young men followed 32 years.

The relationship of baseline characteristics to serum cholesterol at baseline (CHL47) when aged 16-25 (mean 20.5) yr and at 32-yr follow-up (CHL79) was assessed in 162 men. Mean CHL rose over the follow-up period. CHL47 predicted CHL79 (r = 0.61, p less than 0.001) but not CHL79-CHL47. The mean (+/- SD) weight change (DW) was 12.0 kg (+/- 26.0 kg). DW was not significantly related to CHL47, but was independently related to CHL79-CHL47 (4 = 0.30, p less than 0.001). Age, height, DW, any of 7 measures of baseline obesity and CHL47 predicted CHL79 with R2 of 0.40 and CHL79-CHL47 with R2 of 0.37. Thus, weight change but not baseline relative weight was a determinant of serum cholesterol change from youth to middle age. There was strong tracking of serum cholesterol over this period.