Jump to full article: MedWire News (uk), 2010-07-12
Author: Joanna Lyford
Intro: The influence of smoking and drinking on non-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels is most pronounced in middle-aged and elderly individuals, study findings show.
Ichiro Wakabayashi (Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan) and Klaus Groschner (Karl-Franzens-University, Austria) and colleagues investigated interactions among habitual cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and lipid levels in a large cohort of Japanese men. . . .
The study revealed that mean adjusted serum non-HDL cholesterol levels were significantly higher in heavy smokers than in light smokers among men aged 40 years and above. In younger men, non-HDL cholesterol levels did not differ according to smoking status.
In nonsmokers, non-HDL levels were significantly lower in drinkers than in non-drinkers among men aged 30 years and above. Again, this difference was not seen in younger men.
Finally, in smokers, the difference in non-HDL cholesterol levels between drinkers and non-drinkers tended to increase with increasing age. This difference was also greater in smokers than in non-smokers.
In their paper, which is published in Metabolism Clinical and Experimental, Wakabayashi et al present a diagram summarizing their findings and highlighting the fact that increased non-HDL cholesterol is "a potent predictor of atherosclerotic diseases."
They conclude: "Non-HDL cholesterol was higher and HDL cholesterol was lower in smokers than in nonsmokers, while non-HDL cholesterol was lower and HDL cholesterol was higher in drinkers than in non-drinkers.
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