Gender differences in blood lipids in a Greek island population the epic study

Abstract

Female and male volunteers of the Aegean island of Lesvos participated in an epidemiological, cross-sectional study to examine total serum cholesterol (TC) and high density (HDL-C) levels, to study gender differences and explore changes in blood lipids with menopause. Five hundred sixty three females and three hundred thirty two males, ages 30 to 78, were recruited as part of the Greek component of the European Perspective study on Nutrition, Cancer and Health (EPIC Study). Assessments included dietary and anthropometric measurements, demographic information and blood lipid assays. Mean, TC, HDL-C and TC/HDL-C ratio for women were 216 mg/dl, 51.5 mg/dl and 4.3 respectively and for men TC, HDL-C and TCHDL-C ratio were 217 mg/dl, 41.4 mg/dl and 5.5 respectively. With menopause, TC levels and the TC/HDL-C ratio significantly increased while HDL-C tended to decrease after controlling for age, BMI, smoking, dietary lipid and alcohol consumption. According to the TC/HDL ratio in the younger ages (30–39), approximately 85% of women were placed in the low to moderate risk category but with advancing age (above 60) that percentage decreased to 64%. In men, approximately 50% were placed at high risk for TC/HDL-C ratio at a young age (30–39). This percentage increased with advancing age, but decreased to 47% in men above 60 years of age. Gender differences and menopausal blood lipid alterations generally observed in Western populations with high incidence of CVD are also observed in our Greek island population. Our study points to the adverse blood lipid profiles especially in men as one of the factors contributing to the increasing CVD mortality in Greece.