Article ID: CJ-09-0209
Background: Little is known about high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) trajectory patterns among ethnic Chinese in Taiwan, or the effects of lifestyle and biochemical measurements on these trajectory patterns. Methods and Results: This longitudinal study was based on 330 adult participants who underwent biochemical measurements annually from 2003 to 2006. As time progressed, HDL-C increased significantly; women had a consistently higher value (10 mg/dl) than men. An increase of 1 kg/m2 in body mass index was associated with -1.00 ±0.25 mg/dl HDL-C for women (P=0.0001) and -0.78 ±0.11 mg/dl for men (P<0.0001). Current smoking was inversely associated with HDL-C in men only. Systolic blood pressure and exercisefrequency were positively associated with HDL-C in men only. Compared with non-smokers, participants who smoked had a lower HDL-C level of -8.42 ±4.90 mg/dl in women (P=0.09) and -3.60 ±0.94 mg/dl in men (P=0.0001). In contrast, a 1-h increase in exercise frequency every week was related to an increased HDL-C level of 0.38 ±0.28 mg/dl for women (P=0.18) and 0.53 ±0.14 mg/dl for men (P=0.0001). Conclusions: An increase in HDL-C was shown over a 4-year period and gender-specific lifestyle factors were associated with HDL-C concentration among ethnic Chinese in Taiwan.
