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Abstract
Background: Abnormal lipid profiles are important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Age and sex may influence lipid metabolism and contribute to variations in serum lipid concentrations. Understanding these variations is essential for assessing cardiovascular risk in different population groups. Aim: This study aimed to investigate age- and sex-related variations in serum lipid profile parameters, including total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 97 individuals, including 49 females and 48 males. Participants were classified into six age groups. Mean and standard deviation (Mean ± SD) were calculated for each lipid parameter. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare lipid profile parameters across age groups, while Welch's independent samples t-test was applied to compare males and females. Age-adjusted comparisons were also considered using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results: The findings revealed variations in lipid profile parameters across different age groups in both sexes; however, these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Comparison between sexes showed significantly higher mean total cholesterol levels among females (197.96 ± 43.63 mg/dL) compared with males (166.42 ± 54.73 mg/dL; p = 0.002). Similarly, LDL levels were significantly higher in females (129.49 ± 34.57 mg/dL) than in males (109.63 ± 45.30 mg/dL; p = 0.017). These differences remained significant after adjusting for age for total cholesterol (p = 0.005), while the LDL difference was significant before age adjustment but did not remain significant after correction for multiple comparisons. No statistically significant differences were observed in TG or HDL concentrations between sexes. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that sex-related differences were more evident than age-group differences in the investigated lipid profile parameters. Females exhibited higher total cholesterol and LDL concentrations than males, suggesting potential sex-related variations in lipid metabolism within the studied population. Further studies involving larger samples and more balanced age distributions are recommended to confirm these findings.