Lipid and Lipoprotein Distributions in Black Adults

Abstract

To provide population data on levels of plasma cholesterol, triglyceride, and high- and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C and LDL-C) in black adults, 627 black adults, aged 20 to 59 years, 206 men and 421 women, were studied in the Cincinnati Lipid Research Clinic's Princeton School Study. Comparisons were made with 2,493 white adults, aged 20 to 59 years, 1,111 men and 1,382 women, from the Princeton School Study. Black men had total plasma cholesterol levels that were comparable with those in whites; plasma cholesterol levels were higher in black than white women. Black men had lower levels of plasma triglycerides, higher HDL-C levels, and lower LDL-C levels than white men. Black women not taking exogenous sex steroid hormones had higher total cholesterol and HDL-C levels, and lower triglyceride and LDL-C levels than white women not taking exogenous sex steroid hormones. Black women taking exogenous sex steroid hormones had lower plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels and slightly higher HDL-C and lower LDL-C levels than white women taking exogenous sex steroid hormones. These differences not only require the use of race-specific lipoprotein distribution tables for characterization of individual subjects, but are consistent with putatively reduced risk for coronary heart disease in blacks when compared with whites. (JAMA1981;245:939-942)