Factors contributing to the variability in serum lipid levels and blood pressure in a large kindred.
A 267-member, five-generation Caucasian kindred, that was originally from Evans County, Georgia, and that had a high incidence of cardiovascular disease, was chosen for a study of factors that may make significant contributions to the observed variability in serum lipid levels and blood pressure. A total of 234 of the 240 living members of the family agreed to participate and were examined in the summer of 1978 either at a clinic in Claxton, Georgia, or in their homes. Total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, height, weight, and two skinfold thicknesses were transformed to natural logarithms, and then adjusted for significant age effects by polynomial regressions on age, separately for each sex. These adjusted variables were then regressed on behavioral traits such as cigarette smoking using a step-wise, multiple linear regression procedure to determine the best fitting linear models. For males, behavioral traits accounted for 41.39% (R2) of the variance in height, 15.01% in weight, 19.51% in subscapular skinfold, 30.28% in triceps skinfold, 10.19% in triglycerides, 8.25% in total cholesterol, 15.81% in high density lipoprotein cholesterol, 21.32% in systolic blood pressure, and 28.23% in diastolic blood pressure. For females, the behavioral traits accounted for 31.40% of the variance in height, 25.99% in weight, 15.80% in subscapular skinfold, 9.84% in triceps skinfold, 7.20% in triglycerides, 21.08% in total cholesterol, 16.69% in high density lipoprotein cholesterol, 9.91% in systolic blood pressure, and 1.55% in diastolic blood pressure.
D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001835:Body Weight; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D010375:Pedigree; D012737:Sex Factors; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D012907:Smoking
D008055:Lipids