Key result
Black women have ~42% lower triglycerides than white women, potentially underestimating metabolic syndrome-based cardiovascular risk.
Why the study?
Racial disparities in metabolic syndrome variables may lead to underestimation of cardiovascular risk in black women due to differences in blood lipid profiles.
Do metabolic syndrome variables, specifically blood lipids, differ between non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white women?
Observational (n=254)
Do metabolic syndrome variables, specifically blood lipids, differ between non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white women?
Absolute Event Rate: 81.1% vs 140.6%
p-value: p=<.0001
Current metabolic syndrome criteria may underestimate cardiovascular risk in black women due to inherent racial differences in blood lipids, such as lower triglycerides.
Metabolic syndrome criteria may underestimate CV risk in Black women; hypothesis-generating for race-specific lipid thresholds.
BACKGROUND: During screening for enrollment in a clinical trial, we noticed potential racial disparities in metabolic syndrome variables in women who responded to our study advertisement. We designed a nested observational study to investigate whether metabolic syndrome variables differed between non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites. METHODS: The cohort comprised of women who have met the preliminary clinical trial criteria (body mass index [BMI] 25-45, age 20-75 years, and no use of lipid-lowering medications or supplements). These women, including 116 blacks and 138 whites, provided fasting blood samples for analysis of serum lipid profile. RESULTS: Blacks had lower mean triglycerides (81.1 ± 3.3 mg/dL vs 140.6 ± 5.9 mg/dL; P < .0001), total cholesterol (176.1 ± 3.6 mg/dL vs 201.6 ± 3.3 mg/dL; P < .0001), and low-density lipoprotein (111.7 ± 3.3 mg/dL vs 128.2 ± 2.9 mg/dL; P < .001) and higher mean BMI (37.2 ± 0.5 vs 35.2 ± 0.5; P < .01) and diastolic blood pressure (82.4 ± 0.8 mmHg vs 79.4 ± 0.7 mmHg; P < .01) than whites. Only 7% of blacks, compared with 41% of whites, had triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL; as a result, fewer black women met metabolic syndrome criteria than white women. Additionally, in women with waist circumference ≥88 cm (N = 215), high-density lipoprotein was higher in blacks than in whites (48.3 ± 1.5 mg/dL vs 44.2 ±1.3 mg/dL; P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Due to racial differences in blood lipids, current metabolic syndrome criteria may result in underestimation of cardiovascular risk in blacks.
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McIntosh et al. (2013) conducted an observational in Metabolic syndrome (n=254). Non-Hispanic black race vs. Non-Hispanic white race was evaluated on mean triglycerides (mg/dL) (p=<.0001). Black women had significantly lower mean triglycerides (81.1 vs 140.6 mg/dL; P<0.0001) than white women, potentially leading to underestimation of cardiovascular risk by metabolic syndrome criteria.
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