Association between lipid profile and adiposity in women over age 60.

OBJECTIVE To verify the association between lipid profiles and overall or central obesity in women over the age of 60. METHODS The sample was comprised of 388 women over the age of 60 (mean 69; standard deviation 5.9 years). The lipid profile was determined using total cholesterol (TC), HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) levels. Overall obesity was determined using the body mass index (BMI) and skin fold (SF) measurements. Central obesity was determined using the waist circumference (WC) and waist--hip ratio (WHR). Statistical analysis was conducted using age adjusted partial correlation and one way ANOVA (p<0.05). RESULTS The mean values found for the adiposity variables and lipid profile components indicate an elevated atherogenic risk. In addition, the indicators for overall and central obesity were directly related to TG levels and inversely related to HDL-C levels. CONCLUSION The partial correlation analysis and the largest variance found for WC and WHR in comparison to the lipidogram components indicate that both methods could be useful in the early diagnosis of atherosclerosis.