SERUM LIPIDS AND LIPOPROTEINS IN THE SECOND YEAR OF LIFE AND IN PARENTS OF NEWBORNS WITH RAISED SERUM OR LIPOPROTEIN LIPIDS

Abstract

Abstract. From a population of 2815 newborns, 704 infants were reinvestigated in the second year of life, together with their parents. The infants comprised a randomly selected reference group and six groups with concentrations of triglycerides (TG) or cholesterol (CHOL) at birth above the 90th percentile in total serum, the sum of very low and low (VLDL+LDL) or high density lipoproteins (HDL). Venous blood was collected after an overnight fast. Concentrations of TG and CHOL were determined in total serum and in HDL‐containing serum after precipitation of VLDL and LDL. No correlation was observed between the lipid concentrations at birth and at the age of one year. Nor was any correlation found between the concentrations in newborns and those in their parents. Girls with elevated concentrations of total or VLDL+LDL CHOL at birth and their mothers had a higher serum concentration of CHOL at follow‐up than those in the reference group. Boys and girls with an elevated HDL CHOL concentration at birth and their mothers had a higher serum concentration of HDL CHOL at follow‐up than those in the reference group. Other relations were also found between the CHOL concentrations at birth, at the age of one year and the concentrations in parents. An increased number of families with elevated CHOL concentrations—values in both infant and at least one parent above the 95th percentile of the lipid concentrations in the reference group—was found in all groups with an elevated CHOL concentration at birth. Most of the families found in the group with an elevated total CHOL concentration had either elevated VLDL+LDL CHOL (5 of 9) or elevated HDL CHOL (3/9). Of the seven families found in the group with elevated VLDL+LDL CHOL levels at birth, only four had an elevated total CHOL concentration and of the 13 families found in the group with elevated HDL CHOL, two had an elevated total CHOL concentration. For TG, no differences were found between the reference group and the other groups, nor was there any increased frequency of elevated TG Concentration in the groups defined by high TG values at birth. This study shows that there are certain relations between elevated CHOL concentrations at birth and later in life. It also shows that it is necessary to determine the serum concentration of lipids in the lipoproteins before a reliable evaluation of hyper‐lipidaemia can be made.