A Decade of Lipid Profiles: A Gender Focus

Abstract

Introduction and Objectives: The lipid profile is an important predictor of the risk of coronary
heart disease (CHD). Higher rates of total cholesterol (TC) and cholesterol of low-density lipoprotein
(LDL-C) increase the chances of developing this disease. However, it is known that
women due to hormonal factors would have fewer cardiovascular events. The main objective of
this article is to assess the association among different parameters of the lipid profile between
the different sexes in the population of a city in Brazil.
Methods: This is a descriptive, longitudinal and retrospective study based on secondary data
collected in the period from 2003 to 2013 in a medical laboratory in Aracaju, Brazil. The lipid
profile was determined using the following markers: total cholesterol (TC); high-density lipoprotein
cholesterol (HDL-C); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides
(TG). Statistical analysis was performed using measures of central tendency and variance. The
inferential analysis was performed by student’s t test and the p-value was 0.05.
Results: The sample consists of 63,396 people, 24,425 male and 38,971 female, with mean age
of 42.02±17.38 years. The mean value of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol,
low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride was respectively, 193.39±43.62 mg/dl,
48.80±11.24 mg/dl, 118.35±36.75 mg/dl and 131.28±82.21 mg/dl. Between the genres, it was
observed statistical significant differences between all parameters of lipid profile (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: We concluded that women have higher rates of total cholesterol and low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol; while men have lower rates of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and
higher of triglyceride, which predisposes males to the development of metabolic syndrome.