The effect of age, sex, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking on serum concentrations of lipids and apolipoproteins in Zimbabwean blacks

Serum concentrations of total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoproteins A-I and B were studied in black subjects with no known risk factor for coronary heart disease and in subjects with a single risk factor. The concentrations of lipids and apolipoproteins were sex-dependent. HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I were age-dependent in females ( P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). There was a dose-related association between alcohol consumption and serum concentrations of triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, apolipoproteins A-I and B in males ( P < 0.001 and P < 0.002, respectively in the heavy drinkers). The effects of cigarette smoking on the concentrations of serum lipids and apolipoproteins appear to be prominent in the heavy smoking subjects ( P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). This work suggests that HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I may discriminate black subjects at risk of developing atherosclerosis.