Associations between 12 year changes in body fatness and lipoprotein-lipid levels in men and women of the Québec Family Study.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the associations between 12 year changes in body composition, subcutaneous fat distribution vs changes in plasma lipoprotein-lipid levels.

DESIGN

12 year prospective study.

SUBJECTS

A sample of 95 women and 93 men of the Québec Family Study initially tested in 1980.

MEASUREMENTS

Various body fatness variables as well as fasting plasma lipoprotein-lipid concentrations performed both in 1980 and 1992.

RESULTS

In both 1980 and 1992, a high body fat mass and an elevated accumulation of subcutaneous trunk fat were associated with a significant deterioration in the plasma lipoprotein-lipid profile. Furthermore, correlation analysis performed on differences noted during the 12 years follow-up revealed significant associations between changes in body fat mass and in plasma cholesterol [r = 0.52, P < 0.0005] in women. In both men and women, an increased body fat mass was associated with an increased CHOL/HDL-cholesterol ratio [r = 0.37, P < 0.01 (men) and r = 0.54, P < 0.0005 (women)]. Correlations between changes in fat mass and plasma lipids were generally of higher magnitude in women than in men. Changes in subcutaneous trunk fat were associated with changes in plasma HDL-chol levels (r = -0.22, P < 0.05) in men whereas in women, changes in trunk adiposity were related to changes in both plasma CHOL (r = 0.25, P < 0.05) and TG (r = 0.32, P < 0.005) levels.

CONCLUSION

These results support the notion that the increased adiposity observed among aging adult men and women is a significant component of the deterioration in the plasma lipoprotein-lipid profile noted over a 12 year follow-up period.