Clinical significance of fasting and postprandial lipemia in obese and non-obese subjects

Abstract

Background and objective: Postprandial lipemia is a risk marker for the presence or progression of cardiovascular disease. Identifying factors affecting lipoprotein metabolism in postprandial state is of interest in order to find ways for prevention of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to assess obesity measurements and to find out the relationship between them and postprandial lipemia and to determine postprandial lipemia in obese subjects and to compare it with fasting lipemia taking in consideration the levels of Apolipoprotein B. Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed to examine the association between obesity and postprandial lipemia. One hundred seventy one subjects of both genders with different body mass index participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements and blood pressure were recorded for them. Lipid profile was measured twice: after 12 hours fasting, two hours postprandially. Results: There were significant differences between different groups of patients regarding with studied parameters. Men had a higher postprandial response than did women. There were significant differences between fasting and postprandial levels of lipid profile, except for the measurement of apolipoprotein B. Therefore, the level of plasma apolipoprotein B was not affected by meal intake. The postprandial lipemia was significantly related to the measurements of obesity. Conclusion: Apolipoprotein B can replace low-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol in lipid profile assessments. By designing equations, by doing the postprandial triglyceride test, the level of fasting plasma triglyceride and level of plasma Apolipoprotein B can be estimated.