Association of Height with Total Cholesterol Level in Young Adults in Assessment of Coronary Heart Disease Risk

Abstract

We aimed to study the association of height with blood total cholesterol (TC) level in young adults and the potential use of the two parameters in combination as an indicator of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in adulthood. The study involved 331 individuals (124 males, 207 females) aged 18 to 28. Other anthropometric parameters i.e. body weight and body mass index (BMI) were also incorporated to study their associations with blood TC level. Total cholesterol was measured using finger-prick blood. The prevalence of high blood TC among the study group was determined. Height was inversely associated with blood TC level (p<0.05), whereas body weight and BMI did not show significant association with blood TC level. The prevalence of high blood TC (= 5.2mmol/L) was higher in female (0.44) than male (0.26), the overall prevalence was 0.37. The current finding indicated that shorter stature was associated with high blood TC level, while other studies found significant association of shorter stature with increased risk of CHD. Therefore, data on height with blood TC level could be used as a means of assessing CHD risk among young adults. Besides, a female with shorter stature might have a higher risk of developing CHD.