Clearance of triglycerides from the circulation and its relationship to serum lipoproteins: influence of age and sex.

In this study of a randomly selected population from 20 to 70 years of age, the clearance of triglycerides from the blood was studied after i.v. injection of an artificial triglyceride emulsion Intralipid. In women, the triglyceride clearance from the blood decreases with increasing age, but for men there was no change with age. Women had faster fractional removal rates of i.v. injected triglycerides than men in all age-groups. The triglyceride clearance showed a negative correlation to Broca index (obesity), serum triglyceride, serum cholesterol, triglycerides in very low density lipoproteins, and to cholesterol in very low density lipoproteins and in low density lipoproteins, but showed a strong positive correlation to cholesterol in high density lipoproteins.