Plasma lipoproteins in healthy octogenarians: lack of reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels: results from the Framingham Heart Study

Abstract

Genetic low density lipoprotein (LDL) deficiency and high density lipoprotein (HDL) excess have been associated with enhanced longevity. This investigation assessed the prevalence of lipoprotein abnormalities in octogenarians free of clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the Framingham Heart Study. Plasma lipid and lipoprotein cholesterol determinations were carried out by standard techniques between 1971 and 1974. Participants who were free of clinical evidence of CVD in an examination approximately 10 years later (1981 to 1982) had their lipoprotein values tabulated based on the earlier examination. There were 106 women and 57 men who met these criteria, with mean ages of 83.3 and 82.9 years, respectively, at examination 16 (called cases). Mean levels (+/- SEM) of LDL cholesterol in cases were 152 +/- 3 mg/dL for women, and 147 +/- 5 mg/dL for men. For HDL cholesterol, these values were 57 +/- mg/dL for women and 46 +/- 2 mg/dL for men. These values were not statistically different from those of other study subjects (who did not meet the CVD criteria or were decreased) or middle-aged controls. In contrast, HDL cholesterol levels below the tenth percentile of normal were not observed in any male cases and in only 1.0% of female cases (P less than .05) as compared with observations in control subjects. The data are consistent with the concept that there is not an overrepresentation of either decreased LDL cholesterol or elevated HDL cholesterol values in subjects who subsequently become healthy octogenarians, but that these subjects are exceedingly unlikely to have reduced HDL cholesterol levels.