The relationship of smoking and alcohol consumption to blood pressure and lipid concentrations in male elderly living in Seoul, Korea / 대한내과학회지

BACKGROUND: It is known that the effects of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on cardiovascular disease are very diverse. We investigated the effects of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and dyslipidemia in male elderly living in Seoul, Korea. METHODS: We examined the relationship of smoking and alcohol consumption to cardiovascular risk factors in 236 Korean men aged over 60 years in the community-based cross-sectional study from August 1999 to October 1999. RESULTS: Alcohol users had higher systolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol compared with non-users. After adjustment with age, body mass index and amount of smoking, partial correlation analysis showed that amount of alcohol consumption positively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r=0.1479, p<0.05) and negatively correlated with LDL cholesterol (r=0.2704, p<0.01) and total cholesterol (r=0.1800, p<0.05). But smokers didn't show any difference of body mass index, blood pressure, and lipid profile compared with non-smokers. CONCLUSION: In Korean male elderly, alcohol consumption was associated with increased systolic blood pressure. Also alcohol consumption was confirmed to be associated with decreased LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol, which might have a protective effect on coronary heart disease. We couldn't find the correlation between blood pressure, lipid profile and cigarette smoking.

Prevalence of Obesity and Correlation Between Obesity and Dyslipidemia in Elderly Population in South-West Seoul

BACKGROUND: Recently obese people have increased in Korea due to change of diet and life style. Obesity itself is an independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease. Also, obesity is associated with hyper tension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes as a componet of insulin resistance syndrome. To assess the health implications of obesity, we investigated the prevalence of obesity and the correlation between obesity and dyslipidemia. METHOD: The study was conducted in 1,733 elderly Korean(male 346, female 1,387) who lived in southwest Seoul area. Subjects were checked sex, age, height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Overall obesity was measured by BMI(body mass index) and abdominal obesity was evaluated by WHR(waist-to-hip ratio). Subjects were divided according to their BMI(<25.0, > or = 25.0) and WHR(male< or =0.90, > or =0.90/female< or =0.85, > or =0.85). RESULT: The prevalence of obesity according to BMI was 32.1% in men and 46.4% in women. Systolic and diatolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride, LCD cholesterol in the obese group revealed significantly higher than those in the nonobese group. In the abdominal obesity male group according to WHRl, the serum tiglyceride level was increased and the serum cholesterol level was decrea- sed but blood pressure, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol were not different compared with the non-obese group. In the abdominal obesity female group, sys- tolic and diastolic blood pressure was significantly different in addition to triglyceride and HDL cholesterol compared with the non-obese group. CONCLUSION: Obese Korean elderly population had a characteristics like higher levels of blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, triglyceride and lower level of HDL cholesterol. which were known as cardiovascular risk factors. To evaluate the correla- tion between obesity and cardiovascular risk, prospective study for the difference of incidence of cardiovascular disease between obese and non-obese group will be continued.