Longitudinal development of lipoprotein levels in males and females aged 12-28 years: the Amsterdam Growth and Health Study.

BACKGROUND

In the Amsterdam Growth and Health Study, the longitudinal development of risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) was investigated.

METHODS

Serum cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and the TC/HDL ratio were measured at the ages of 13, 14, 15 and 16 years (adolescence) and at the ages of 21 and 27 years ([young] adulthood).

RESULTS

No cohort, time of measurement, drop-out or test/learning effects were found for TC, HDL and the TC/HDL ratio. For males the longitudinal development of TC showed a dip in the adolescent period, while females showed constant values. For both males and females TC values increased during young adulthood, but females had higher (P < or = 0.001) absolute values than males. The HDL values for males decreased throughout the measurement period, while for females a stable period during adolescence was followed by a slight increase during adulthood. For the TC/HDL ratio males showed an increase during young adulthood, while females stayed more or less constant over the whole measurement period. The percentages of subjects above (or below for HDL) objective risk values increased with age: from 0% to 1% during adolescence to 11% (males) and 14% (females) for TC, 5% (males) and 1% (females) for HDL and 13% (males) and 1% (females) for the TC/HDL ratio.

CONCLUSIONS

In a relatively young and healthy population TC and TC/HDL values tended to rise with age (especially in males) indicating that prevention related to these risk factors for CHD should start early in life.