Abstract

This study was to investigate the level of serum lipids and obesity in housewives in Mooan, and relationships between them. The average age, height and weight were 51.1 years, 154.3 cm and 58.3 kg respectively. The level of obesity of subjects was higher than that of housewives in other areas investigated in other studies. BMI and RBW underestimated in the obese compared to BIA. The amounts of lean body mass and total body water of subjects above 60 years old were smaller than those of forties and their BMI and RBW were lower than those of forties. However, their body fat percentage was nearly same as that of forties. Serum HDL-cholesterol(HDL-C) of subjects was lower than 55 mg/dl, the lower limit of normal range. Triglyceride of subjects above 60years old was higher than the 95th percentile of those of the same age with reference to Mayo clinic. The serum total cholesterol(TC) showed positive correlation with LDL-cholesterol(LDL-C) and TC/HDL-C(p<0.001). LDL-C showed positive correlation with TC(p<0.001), but negative correlation with HDL-C(p<0.05). HDL-C showed negative correlation with triglyceride(p<0.05). TC/HDL-C showed a positive correlation with triglyceride(p<0.05). HDL-C was the serum lipid which showed the highest correlation with obesity and body composition. It showed a negative correlation with the percentage of body fat(p<0.001), total body fat(p<0.001), BMI(p<0.05) and RBW(p<0.05). TC/HDL-C showed positive correlation with the percentage of body fat(p<0.01) and total body fat(p<0.05). As the result of above, it is needed to make more researches to find out the proper method to estimate the obesity of subjects and educate subjects in Mooan about nutritional information for obesity.

• Keywords: rural adult women; body fat; BMI; RBW; serum lipids