Assessment of lipid profile in middle and upper class individuals in Abia State, Nigeria based on life-style and dietary habits

Abstract

Assessment of lipid profile in some middle and upper class individuals based on their life-style and dietary habit was carried out using 35 volunteer human 19 males and 16 females. Their life-style and dietary habit were determined using a questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements of weight, height, waist and hip circumferences were taken, Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist hip ratio (WHR) were calculated, while the lipid profile was determined using standard biochemical proce-dures. The results of the anthropometric measurements showed that the mean weight, height and Body Mass Index (BMI) were 80.1±13.8 kg, 1.7±1.1 m, 26.4±4.9 kg m^-2, respectively for the males and 78.5±16.5 kg, 1.6±1.2 m and 25.8±5.5 kg m^-2, respectively for the females. There was no statisti-cally significant difference (p > 0.05) in all the anthropometric parameters measured for both sexes except for waist/height ratio (WHR). The results of the lipid profile showed that the mean total cholesterol (TC), High density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides (TRG) were within normal reference range. Both sexes however, had mean low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) of 101.8±45.2 mg dL^-1 and 119.5±43.7 mg dL^-1 for males and females respectively. The total cholesterol/high density lipoprotein (TC/HDL-C) ratio revealed that mean values for the males and the females were 4.5±1.1 and 4.9±2.1 respectively. Correlation analysis showed positive correlations between BMI and LDL-C (r=0439; p=0.018), WHR and TAG (r=0.488; p=0.003), waist circumference (WC) and TRG (r=0.379; p=0.025). A high prevalence of overweight/obesity and dyslipidaemia (high LDL-C and triglycerides) were observed among the adults. Appropriate interventions such as regular exercise and periodic lipid profile screening should be advocated.

Keywords: Lipid profile, dietary habit, anthropometry, Abia State