Ethnic differences in total and HDL cholesterol among Turkish, Moroccan and Dutch ethnic groups living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Table 2 Mean cholesterol levels^$ and prevalence rates^$ of hypercholesterolemia and dyslipidemia by sex and ethnic group

	Dutch	Turkish	Moroccan
Men	(n = 202)	(n = 189)	(n = 181)
total cholesterol (mmol/l)	5.51 (5.33-5.70)	4.99 (4.78-5.19)***	4.71 (4.46-4.96)***
hypercholesterolemia^† (%)	24.1 (18.6-30.6)	8.9 (6.4-12.2)***	7.6 (4.8-11.8)***
HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)	1.40 (1.34-1.45)	1.14 (1.09-1.19)***	1.15 (1.09-1.22)***
low HDL cholesterol^‡ (%)	7.4 (4.0-13.3)	28.7 (19.9-39.4)***	25.6 (16.0-38.5)**
total/HDL cholesterol ratio	4.14 (3.94-4.34)	4.58 (4.34-4.82)**	4.29 (4.00-4.57)
high total/HDL cholesterol ratio^# (%)	21.2 (15.2-28.8)	30.0 (21.2-40.6)	28.3 (19.3-39.4)
Women	(n = 289)	(n = 214)	(n = 145)
total cholesterol (mmol/l)	5.38 (5.25-5.51)	5.01 (4.85-5.16)***	4.88 (4.71-5.05)***
hypercholesterolemia^† (%)	21.9 (18.7-25.5)	10.5 (6.9-15.6)***	8.3 (5.4-12.6)***
HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)	1.69 (1.63-1.75)	1.39 (1.33-1.45)***	1.40 (1.34-1.46)***
low HDL cholesterol^‡ (%)	11.1 (7.2-16.7)	39.4 (32.1-47.2)***	23.8 (16.6-32.9)**
total/HDL cholesterol ratio	3.37 (3.23-3.50)	3.84 (3.67-4.01)***	3.64 (3.46-3.82)*
high total/HDL cholesterol ratio^# (%)	7.9 (5.2-11.9)	19.3 (14.0-25.9)***	9.8 (5.9-15.8)

^$weighted for age to adjust for oversampling, according to the age distribution in the Amsterdam population (with 95% confidence interval)
^†Total serum cholesterol ≥6.5 mmol/l or use of lipid lowering medication
^‡ HDL cholesterol <1.0 mmol/l in men and <1.2 mmol/l in women
^#Total/HDL cholesterol ratio >5
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 (t-test for means, Chi-squared test for prevalence rates) significant difference compared with Dutch ethnic group

ISSN: 1471-2458