Concentrations of serum protein fractions in white women: effects of age, weight, smoking, tonsillectomy, and other factors;.

We measured the concentrations of protein in electrophoretic fractions (albumin and alpha1-, alpha2-, beta, and gamma-globulins) of serum from 9547 white women to determine their relations to age, weight, smoking and other factors. Albumin concentration decreases with age, beta globulin concentration increases. Increasing weight is associated with a decrease in albumin, but with increases in all the globulins. Cigarrete smoking is associated with highly significant differences in all the protein fractions. Surprisingly, very significantly lower concentrations of beta- and gamma-globulins were also found in women who reported a history of tonsillectomy. Height, amenorrhea, education, and alcohol and coffee consumption have some small but statistically significant effects upon the various fractions. Diurnal variation was also slight.