Relation of high plasma triglyceride levels associated with obesity and regional adipose tissue distribution to plasma lipoprotein-lipid composition in premenopausal women.

Abdominal obesity is associated with high plasma triglyceride (TG) and with low plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (CHOL) levels. As plasma TG and HDL-CHOL are negatively correlated, the associations between obesity, the regional distribution of body fat, plasma TG levels, and plasma lipoprotein concentration and composition were studied in a sample of 76 premenopausal women (52 obese and 24 non-obese). Obese women had significantly higher plasma levels of VLDL-TG, low density lipoprotein (LDL)-CHOL, LDL-TG, LDL-apolipoprotein (apo) B and reduced HDL-CHOL levels compared to non-obese controls (p less than 0.01). However, plasma concentrations of HDL-apo A-I and HDL-TG were not different between obese and non-obese women. Partial correlation analyses revealed that both fat mass and abdominal fat accumulation significantly contributed to VLDL-TG and HDL-CHOL variances. After control for body fat mass, the waist-to-hip circumference ratio (WHR) remained significantly correlated with plasma LDL-apo B levels and with the LDL-apo B/LDL-CHOL ratio (0.01 greater than p less than 0.05). Body fat mass was, however, associated with TG enrichment of LDL (p less than 0.01). After control for WHR, body fat mass showed no significant association with plasma HDL-TG levels, whereas the WHR was positively correlated with HDL-TG levels (p less than 0.05). Partial correlation analyses indicated that adjustment for fat mass or for the WHR failed to eliminate the associations between plasma VLDL-TG levels and lipoprotein lipid composition. This study emphasizes the importance of plasma VLDL-TG level as a correlate of plasma LDL and HDL lipid composition in abdominal obesity.