BLACK-WHITE DIFFERENCES IN PLASMA LIPOPROTEINS IN CINCINNATI SCHOOL-CHILDREN (ONE-TO-ONE PAIR MATCHED BY TOTAL PLASMA CHOLESTEROL, SEX, AND AGE

The suburban, biethnic Princeton School District [Cincinnati, Ohio, USA] provided a suitable population of children (ages 6-17) to test the hypothesis that black schoolchildren have higher high density lipoprotein cholesterol (C-HDL), lower low density lipoprotein cholesterol (C-LDL) and lower triglyceride levels than white schoolchildren when pair-matched by total plasma cholesterol, age and sex. In 194 black-white pairs of male schoolchildren, black children had higher C-HDL (59.5 .+-. 13.5 vs. 54.8 .+-. 12.7 mg/dl, (P < .001), lower C-LDL (105.7 .+-. 25.8 vs. 108.1 .+-. 27.2 vs. 71 .+-. 38.1, P < .001). In 222 black-white pairs of female schoolchildren, black girls had higher C-HDL (57.5 .+-. 13.1 vs. 52.0 .+-. 11.6 mg/dl, P < .001), lower C-LDL (107.4 .+-. 24.8 vs. 109.6 .+-. 23.3, P < .05 and lower triglyceride (64.0 .+-. 24.6 vs. 80.2 .+-. 38.6, P < .001). Mean Quetelet indices (weight/height2) did not differ significantly for the black and white males or females. Since, by matching, the pairs did not differ in age, sex or total plasma cholesterol and also did not differ by Quetelet, any differences in C-HDL, C-LDL and triglyceride can be imputed to racial or other unmeasured, racially related environmental differences in the cholesterol-carrying lipoprotein fractions. Persistence of these black-white differences in lipoproteins into adulthood may be associated with a relatively lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in blacks than in whites, for any given total plasma cholesterol level.