R. Anitha 1 , G. S. Prema 2 , O. Padmini 3
ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized nations. Serum lipid concentrations are related to cardiovascular disease risk and one notable association is a statistically significant inverse correlation between HDL-cholesterol concentrations and the probability of developing coronary artery disease. A major related cardiovascular disease risk factor is obesity. Excess body weight is closely linked to low serum HDL-cholesterol concentrations. The general assumption now is that excessive body weight is associated with enlarged adipose tissue deposits, visceral adipose tissue in particular, which in turn are accompanied by elevated serum triacylglycerol concentrations. A well-studied inverse association exists between serum triacylglycerol and HDL-cholesterol concentrations and this may explain the observed low serum HDL-cholesterol concentrations in obesity. This study is done to confirm the above fact. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The subjects for the study were 100 males in the age group of 21 to 40 years. The subjects taken as obese were 50 and those taken as controls were 50. Obesity was taken into account according to the Body Mass Index. RESULTS: Paired T test is done. Results show that 34/50 subjects with BMI <25kg/m2 have HDL cholesterol levels of >40mg/dl. 40/50 obese patients with BMI >25kg/m2 show HDL levels of <40mg/dl. Significant P value is seen. The study shows that BMI is inversely related to HDL cholesterol levels. DISCUSSION: High HDL cholesterol, above 60 mg/dl is associated with low risk of coronary heart disease. HDL cholesterol below 40 mg/dL is considered too low and appears to be an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease. Low HDL cholesterol is one of the most common phenotypes seen in persons with premature heart disease. Obesity is associated with low HDL cholesterol levels and high triglyceride levels. A negative correlation exists between HDL cholesterol and body-mass index (BMI), meaning that HDL cholesterol tends to be lower with increasing BMI. CONCLUSION: The existence of a small but significant inverse correlation between serum HDL-cholesterol concentrations and BMI was confirmed in the present study. This study highlights the critical importance of early intervention directed at treatment of obesity to avert the long-term consequences of obesity on the development of various cardiovascular complications
