Serum lipids of normal subjects with aging. Studies in a single cohort.

The relative roles of environmental factors, of inheritance and of the inexorable effects of aging in the etiology of atherosclerosis and its related lipid disorders continue to be debated. An increase in serum lipids with age has been noted in many studies (1, 2, 3, 4). These studies, however, have involved measurements of people of different ages at one point in time rather than of one group at different ages. To conclude from such studies that a rise of serum lipids is a necessary accompaniment of age is perilous. Until a cbhort can be studied through life conclusions regarding the effect of age on serum lipids are speculative only. The present study compares the serum lipids of a group of 28 persons studied first in the early 1930's and again in the 1960's. The results suggest that a rise in serum lipids in men is not a relentless effect of time but may be related to weight gain during adult life. While the group is small; it is unique in the long span of time between the initial and the follow-up study.