title: Weekday variation in triglyceride concentrations in 1.8 million blood samples.
abstract: Triglyceride (TG) concentration is used as a marker of cardiometabolic risk. However, diurnal and possibly weekday variation exists in TG concentrations. The objective of this work was to investigate weekday variation in TG concentrations among 1.8 million blood samples drawn between 2008 and 2015 from patients in the Capital region of Denmark. Plasma TG was extracted from a central clinical laboratory information system. Weekday variation was investigated by means of linear mixed models. In addition to the profound diurnal variation, the TG concentration was 4.5% lower on Fridays compared with Mondays (P< 0.0001). The variation persisted after multiple adjustments for confounders and was consistent across all sensitivity analyses. Out-patients and in-patients, respectively, had 5.0% and 1.9% lower TG concentrations on Fridays compared with Mondays (bothP< 0.0001). The highest weekday variations in TG concentrations were recorded for out-patients between the ages of 9 and 26 years, with up to 20% higher values on Mondays compared with Fridays (allP< 0.05). In conclusion, TG concentrations were highest after the weekend and gradually declined during the week. We suggest that unhealthy food intake and reduced physical activity during the weekend increase TG concentrations which track into the week. This weekday variation may carry implications for public health and future research practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark joern.jaskolowski@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jaskolowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ritz
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sjödin
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Astrup
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Hellerup, Denmark.
authors.forename: Pal B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Szecsi
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Hellerup, Denmark.
authors.forename: Steen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stender
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mads F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Hjorth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014280:Triglycerides
keywords: diet and dietary lipids; lipid biochemistry; nutrition/carbohydrates; nutrition/lipids; patients; weekday differences