STUDIES IN HYPERTRIGLYCERIDEMIA .1. SERUM TRIGLYCERIDE DISTRIBUTION AND ITS CORRELATES IN RANDOMLY SELECTED SWEDISH MIDDLE-AGED MEN

Objectives. To obtain a randomly selected hypertriglyceridaemic popula tion for detailed further characterization. Design. Study of randomly selected males. Setting. Subjects examined and blood sampled at Sollen tuna Primary Health Care Centre. Subjects. Men aged 40-50 years (n = 1 564), living in the Stockholm area, who were screened for hypertriglyc eridaemia, January 1990-Tune 1992. Main outcome measures. Fasting conc entrations of serum triglycerides. Results. The serum triglyceride con centration distribution showed the expected skew distribution with the 90th and the 95th percentile at 2.51 and 3.05 mmol L(-1), respectivel y. The mean serum triglyceride level compared well with several popula tion values reported from this laboratory over the last 30 years, indi cating stable triglyceride levels over time. There was no significant age-trend for the triglyceride concentration. Lower mean values for tr iglyceride, insulin and waist-to-hip (W/H) ratio were observed during the summer, whilst apolipoprotein A-I levels were higher. There was a linear relation between the number of cigarettes smoked and the serum triglyceride concentration. In stepwise multiple linear regression ana lysis with the triglyceride concentration as the dependent variable th e following variables appeared as significant (P < 0.01) contributors: insulin, cholesterol, glucose, apolipoprotein A-I, number of cigarett es smoked, BMI, W/H ratio and diastolic blood pressure. The regression coefficient for apolipoprotein A-I was negative; all the others were positive. The multiple regression (R) was 0.68, suggesting that up to 47% of the variation of the serum triglyceride concentration could be predicted by these factors. Conclusions. A group of randomly selected hypertriglyceridaemic men has been recruited for further clinical, met abolic and genetic studies. Basic characteristics of the population fo r their recruitment are described.