The Association between Thigh Circumference and Lipids Profile in Korean Population: The Korea Medical Institute Study

Keum Ji Jung; Gyu Jang Lee; Sun Ha Jee

doi:10.12997/jla.2012.1.2.79

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Jung, Lee, and Jee: The Association between Thigh Circumference and Lipids Profile in Korean Population: The Korea Medical Institute Study

Original Article

Journal of Lipid and Atherosclerosis 2012; 1(2): 79-86.

Published online: 31 December 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12997/jla.2012.1.2.79

The Association between Thigh Circumference and Lipids Profile in Korean Population: The Korea Medical Institute Study

Keum Ji Jung¹, Gyu Jang Lee², Sun Ha Jee¹

¹Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, Institute for Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.

²The Korea Medical Institute, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding Author: Sun Ha Jee, Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752, Korea. Tel: +82-2-2228-1523, Fax: +82-2-365-5118, jsunha@yuhs.ac

Received 16 August 2012 Revised 24 August 2012 Accepted 27 August 2012

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objective

We performed a study of the relationship between thigh circumference and serum lipids.

Methods

A total of 314,842 Korean men and women aged 30 to 79 enrolled in the Korea Medical Institute for medical examination between February 2010 and December 2011 were included. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association of thigh circumference with various lipid profiles after adjustment for age, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, smoking, and exercise.

Results

The average age of study participants was 42.3 years (42.6 years in men and 41.9 years in women). The mean thigh circumference was 53.2 cm (54.3 cm in men and 51.5 cm in women). Thigh circumference was positively correlated with BMI and waist circumference in both men and women. Before adjusting for BMI and waist circumference, thigh circumference was also positively correlated with total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, and triglyceride / HDL cholesterol ratio. However, after adjusting for those two variables, the positive correlations became almost disappeared and showed opposite direction indicating that BMI and waist circumference were qualitative confounding variables.

Conclusions

A small thigh circumference was associated with increasing levels of lipid profiles including triglyceride and decreasing level of HDL cholesterol. Through additional researches, establishment of causality is necessary.

Keywords: Thigh circumference, Lipids, Waist circumference, Body mass index

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Triglyceride level according thigh and waist circumference among men and women.

Table 1

General characteristics of the study population

SD: standard deviation, LDL: low-density lipoprotein, HDL: high-density lipoprotein, TG: triglyceride

Table 2

Correlation coefficients (P values) for thigh circumference with various variables among men and women

Model 1: adjusted for age.

Model 2: adjusted for age, and body mass index.

Model 2: adjusted for age, body mass index, and waist circumference.

LDL: low-density lipoprotein, HDL: high-density lipoprotein

Table 3

Difference in serum lipids, according to thigh circumference, among men

The reference category was a thigh circumference of 51 to <57 cm.

All differences were adjusted for age, smoking, exercise, family history of diabetes, body mass index and waist circumference.

LDL: low-density lipoprotein, HDL: high-density lipoprotein

Table 4

Difference in serum lipids, according to thigh circumference, among women

The reference category was a thigh circumference of 48 to <54 cm.

All differences were adjusted for age, smoking, exercise, family history of diabetes, body mass index and waist circumference.

LDL: low-density lipoprotein, HDL: high-density lipoprotein

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