36 / 88
CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 28, No 4, July/August 2017
238
AFRICA
and biochemical parameters among subjects from the two age
groups were statistically compared. The results showed no
significant difference between the two age groups for WC, BG,
SBP and DBP. However, BMI was higher among people in the
35–51-year age group compared to people in the 51–65-year age
group (
p
= 0.01). The percentage of obese people and people
with normal SBP tended to be higher among people in the
35–51-year age group compared to people in the 51–65-year age
group (16 vs 8%; 37 vs 25%, respectively), but these were not
statistically significant (
p
= 0.08;
p
= 0.05, respectively) (Table 4).
In the north, there was a positive correlation between TC
and TG levels (
r
= 0.61,
p
= 0.001); SBP and DBP (
r
= 0.82,
p
Table 2. Anthropometric and biochemical
parameters according to region
Parameters
North
South
p
-value
WC (cm) (
n
=192)
Mean
±
SEM
88
±
10
92
±
10
0.01
Normal,
n
(%)
35 (39)
32 (31)
0.32
Obese,
n
(%)
54 (61)
71 (69)
BMI (kg/m
2
) (
n
=192)
Mean
±
SEM
26
±
4
28
±
5
0.04
Normal,
n
(%)
40 (45)
31 (30)
0.10
Overweight,
n
(%)
30 (34)
50 (49)
Obese,
n
(%)
19 (21)
22 (21)
BG (mg/dl) (
n
=192)
Mean
±
SEM
105
±
51
92
±
18
0.02
[mmol/l]
[5.83
±
2.83]
[5.11
±
1.00]
Normal,
n
(%)
67 (75)
81 (79)
0.31
Limit,
n
(%)
13 (15)
20 (19)
Diabetes,
n
(%)
9 (10)
2 (2)
TC (mg/dl) (
n
= 50)
Mean
±
SEM
196
±
56
193
±
44
0.83
[mmol/l]
[5.08
±
1.45]
[5.00
±
1.14]
Normal,
n
(%)
18 (80)
18 (72)
1
Hypocholesterolaemia,
n
(%)
4 (8)
3 (12)
Hypercholesterolaemia,
n
(%)
3 (12)
4 (16)
HDL-C (mg/dl) (
n
= 50)
Mean
±
SEM
60
±
16
61
±
16
0.89
[mmol/l]
[1.55
±
0.41]
[1.58
±
0.41]
Normal,
n
(%)
15 (60)
17 (68)
0.71
Hypocholesterolaemia,
n
(%)
6 (24)
3 (12)
Hypercholesterolaemia,
n
(%)
4 (16)
5 (20)
LDL-C (mg/dl) (
n
= 50)
Mean
±
SEM
111
±
48
109
±
38
0.83
[mmol/l]
[2.87
±
1.24]
[2.82
±
0.98]
Normal,
n
(%)
7 (28)
8 (32)
1
Hypocholesterolaemia,
n
(%)
15 (60)
14 (56)
Hypercholesterolaemia,
n
(%)
3 (12)
3 (12)
TG (mg/dl) (
n
= 50)
Mean
±
SEM
121
±
91
116
±
56
0.81
[mmol/l]
[1.37
±
1.03]
[1.31
±
0.63]
Normal,
n
(%)
21 (84)
18 (72)
0.49
Hypocholesterolaemia,
n
(%)
0 (0)
0 (0)
Hypercholesterolaemia,
n
(%)
4 (15)
7 (28)
SBP (mmHg) (
n
=192)
Mean
±
SEM
Normal,
n
(%)
Hypertensive,
n
(%)
146
±
25
132
±
20
<
0.001
42 (47)
76 (74)
<
0.001
47 (53)
27 (26)
DBP (mmHg) (
n
= 192)
Mean
±
SEM
96
±
18
84
±
15
<
0.001
Normal,
n
(%)
26 (29)
68 (66)
<
0.001
Hypertensive,
n
(%)
63 (71)
35 (34)
p
-value for the comparison of means by Student’s
t
-test for independent samples
or Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test and chi-squared or Fischer’s exact test for the
comparison of the percentages in the two regions.
WC, waist circumference; BMI, body mass index; BG, blood glucose; TC, total
cholesterol; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol; TG, triglycerides; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP,
diastolic blood pressure.
Table 3. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters among subjects of the same
gender from the two regions
Parameters
NM SM
p
-value
NW SW
p
-value
WC (cm) (
n
= 192)
Mean
±
SEM 89
±
9
88
±
9
1
87
±
10
95
±
11 0.001
Normal,
n
(%)
27 (60)
32 (70)
0.19
8 (18)
0 (0)
<
0.001
Obese,
n
(%)
18 (40)
14 (30)
36 (82)
57 (100)
BMI (kg/m
2
) (
n
= 192)
Mean
±
SEM 25
±
4
24
±
2
1
27
±
5
30
±
6
0.005
Normal,
n
(%)
23 (52)
24 (52)
0.68 17 (39)
7 (12)
0.01
Overweight,
n
(%)
12 (27)
19 (41)
0.23 18 (41)
31 (54)
0.27
Obese,
n
(%)
9 (21)
3 (7)
0.03
9 (20)
19 (34)
0.13
BG (mg/dl) (
n
= 192)
Mean
±
SEM 112
±
61
91
±
20 0.09 98
±
38
92
±
17 1
[mmol/l]
[6.22
±
3.39] [5.05
±
1.11] 0.07 [5.44
±
2.11] [5.11
±
0.94] 0.86
Normal,
n
(%)
34 (75)
35 (76)
33 (75)
42 (74)
Limit,
n
(%)
4 (9)
9 (20)
9 (20)
11 (19)
Diabetes,
n
(%)
7 (16)
2 (4)
0.02
2 (4)
4 (7)
TC (mg/dl) (
n
= 50)
Mean
±
SEM 214
±
71 196
±
48 0.87 181
±
34 191
±
41 0.89
[mmol/l]
[5.54
±
1.84] [5.08
±
1.24]
1 [4.69
±
0.88] [4.95
±
1.06] 0.64
Normal,
n
(%)
9 (75)
9 (69)
9 (69)
9 (75)
Hypocholesterol-
aemia,
n
(%)
0 (0)
1 (7)
4 (30)
2 (16)
Hypercholesterol-
aemia,
n
(%)
3 (25)
3 (23)
0 (0)
1 (8)
HDL-C (mg/dl) (
n
= 50)
Mean
±
SEM 58
±
15
58
±
17
1
62
±
18
65
±
14 1
[mmol/l]
[1.50
±
0.39] [1.50
±
0.44]
1 [1.61
±
0.47] [1.68
±
0.36] 0.64
Normal,
n
(%)
6 (50)
7 (53)
9 (69)
10 (83)
Hypocholesterol-
aemia,
n
(%)
2 (16)
1 (7)
4 (31)
2 (16)
Hypercholesterol-
aemia,
n
(%)
4 (33)
5 (38)
0 (0)
0 (0)
LDL-C (mg/dl) (
n
= 50)
Mean
±
SEM 127
±
54 112
±
42
1
96
±
38 105
±
35 1
[mmol/l]
[3.29
±
1.40] [2.90
±
1.09]
1 [2.49
±
0.98] [2.72
±
0.91] 0.83
Normal,
n
(%)
3 (25)
3 (23)
4 (30)
5 (41)
Hypocholesterol-
aemia,
n
(%)
7 (58)
8 (61)
8 (61)
6 (50)
Hypercholesterol-
aemia,
n
(%)
2 (17)
2 (15)
1 (7)
1 (8)
TG (mg/dl) (
n
= 50)
Mean
±
SEM 137
±
124 125
±
67
1 106
±
45 106
±
42 1
[mmol/l]
[1.55
±
1.4] [1.41
±
0.76] 0.64 [1.20
±
0.51] [1.20
±
0.47] 0.64
Normal,
n
(%)
10 (83)
9 (60)
11 (84)
9 (75)
Hypocholesterol-
aemia,
n
(%)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
Hypercholesterol-
aemia,
n
(%)
2 (16)
4 (30)
2 (15)
3 (25)
SBP (mmHg) (
n
= 192)
Mean
±
SEM 152
±
27 129
±
19
<
0.001 139
±
22 134
±
22 1
Normal
n
(%)
16 (35)
36 (78)
<
0.001 26 (59)
40 (71)
0.28
Hypertensive,
n
(%) 29 (64)
10 (22)
18 (40)
17 (29)
DBP (mmHg) (
n
= 192)
Mean
±
SEM 98
±
18
80
±
14
<
0.001 93
±
17
87
±
15 0.32
Normal,
n
(%)
11 (34)
32 (70)
<
0.001 15 (24)
36 (63)
0.01
Hypertensive,
n
(%) 34 (75)
14 (30)
29 (66)
21 (37)
p
-value for comparison of means by one-way ANOVA or Kruskal–Wallis test and the chi-
squared test or Fischer’s exact test for the comparison of percentages between groups.
NM, northern men; NW, northern women; SM, southern men; SW, southern women; WC,
waist circumference; BMI, body mass index; BG, blood glucose; TC, total cholesterol;
HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol;
TG, triglycerides; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure.