Comparative Study of Remnant Cholesterol, Some Lipid Fractions and FBS Level in Overweight and Obese Participants in South East Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Obesity is one of the characteristics of metabolic disorders, it has been linked to cardiovascular diseases. Remnant cholesterol has been proposed to be a link between obesity and coronary heart disease, thus a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease in obese people.  We compared the level of calculated non-fasting remnant cholesterol, fasting and non-fasting lipid profile and fasting blood sugar in overweight, obese and normal weight participants in Nnewi, a town in South East Nigeria. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 90 apparently healthy obese, overweight and normal weight participants who met the inclusion criteria were randomly enrolled. They were grouped using their body mass index of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2 (normal weight), 25 to 29.9 kg/m2 (overweight) and ≥30 kg/m2 (obese). The parameters were analyzed using standard methods. Results: Our results shows that there was progressive increase of remnant cholesterol among the group, this increase has no statistical difference (p>0.05) in the mean calculated remnant cholesterol (mmol/l) between the obese (0.72±0.4), overweight (0.68±0.46), and normal weight (0.50±0.28) participants. The mean fasting Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) and Triglyceride (TG) (mmol/l) were significantly higher (p<0.05) in overweight compared to normal weight participants (0.76±0.31 vs. 0.47±0.22) and (1.72±0.60 vs. 1.09±0.51) and obese participants (0.82±0.23 vs. 0.47±0.22) and (1.85±0.59 vs. 1.09±0.51) when compared to normal weight participants respectively. FBS levels (mmol/l) were significantly lower in normal weight participants when compared to overweight participants (3.45±0.79 vs. 4.46±1.82) and obese participants (3.46± 0.79 vs. 4.94±1.26). Conclusion: The results obtained from this study demonstrated a progressive increase in the level of remnant cholesterol which was not statistically significant among apparently healthy individuals across the group. Furthermore we did not observed Remnant cholesterol as a sole predictor to obesity which will lead to cardiovascular diseases, with the rising prevalence of obesity in developing country as well as its associated complications and risks.