Weight change since age 18 years in 30- to 55-year-old whites and blacks. Associations with lipid values, lipoprotein levels, and blood pressure

P. Khoury, J. A. Morrison, M. J. Mellies and C. J. Glueck

To assess associations between current weight, weight at age 18 years, and weight change from age 18 years to ages 30 to 55 years with current levels of plasma cholesterol (C), high- and low-density lipoprotein C (HDLC and LDLC), triglycerides (TG), and systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP), we calculated weight change from self-reported weight at age 18 years and measured weight at ages 30 to 55 years in 308 white and 69 black subjects in a random recall group and 244 whites and 66 blacks in a hyperlipidemic recall group in the Princeton School Study. In random-recall-group whites, mean weight gain over time was greater in men than in women; black women had greater weight gain than black men, and nearly twice the weight gain of white women. Current weight and/or weight gain from age 18 years to ages 30 to 55 years in whites were inversely associated with HDLC level and positively associated with TG level, SBP, and DBP. Similar, but less consistent and significant, trends were observed for blacks. Although weight at age 18 years had no consistent independent explanatory relationship to C, TG, HDLC, and LDLC values, random-recall-group white men who were in the lowest quartile for weight at age 18 years had current levels of C, TG, SBP, and DBP that were all lower than those observed in white men who had been in the upper quartile of weight at age 18 years. Atherogenic increments in TG levels, SBP, and DBP from age 18 years to ages 30 to 55 years are a function, in part, of weight gain during these years.