Interrelationships between Plasma Lipids, Physical Measurements, and Body Fatness of Adolescents in Burlington, Vermont

Abstract

Physical measurements and lipid levels (nonfasting blood samples) are presented by age and sex for junior and senior high school students in a nutrition study in Burlington, Vermont. Increase in height, weight, and Davenport Index (ratio of weight, g-height, cm²) of males appeared delayed about 2 years compared with females. Triceps skin folds of females were thicker than those of males and tended to increase with age in contrast to the decrease with age in males. Few significant differences were found between female and male mean plasma levels of total fatty acids, triglyceride fatty acids, total cholesterol, and lipid phosphorus. The trends of a consistent decrease in triglyceride fatty acids and an increase in total cholesterol in females with age were not apparent in the males. The significant correlations between plasma lipid levels and physical measurements of females were few and negative, but all such relationships were significant (positive) for 17-year-old males as well as significant (positive) for total and triglyceride fatty acids with both Davenport Index and triceps skin-fold thickness of 15- and l6-year-old males with one exception. Relationships were significant and positive, with one exception, for male 15- to 18-year-old groups between total cholesterol and both lipid phosphorus and triglyceride fatty acids. Relationships among plasma lipid levels were also significant and positive for both female and male 15- to l8-year-old groups for total fatty acids, lipid phosphorus, triglyceride fatty acids, and total cholesterol, with one exception. Although the results suggested a higher proportion of subjects with total cholesterol levels greater than 200 mg/100 ml in groups classified as obese according to skin-fold thickness, the differences in distribution were significant only for males and the combined group of females and males.