Host and environmental effects on plasma apolipoprotein B.

In this study, levels of apo B in an unselected sample of 487 middle-aged Caucasian spouses of patients and spouses of the patients' relatives are described. In males, apo B levels increased with age until the 7th decade, then declined; apo B levels in females, which were lower than in males, increased linearly with age across the entire life-span. Height and weight, smoking, and presence of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus significantly influenced age- and gender-adjusted apo B levels in this sample, whereas use of alcohol, diuretics, beta-blockers, or insulin did not. Age, gender, height, weight, smoking, and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus account for 21% of the total variation in apo B levels in this sample.