Background:

The main aim of this study is to evaluate the association between serum cholesterol level and abdominal obesity in adult men and women in the north of Iran.

Materials and Methods:

This cross-sectional and analytical study was conducted on the 1956 subjects (990 men and 966 women) between 25 and 65 years old chosen by cluster sampling. Plasma cholesterol was measured in the morning after a 12 h fast and determined by auto-analyzer. Hypercholesterolemia (HC) was defined by a total plasma cholesterol level over 200 mg/dl. Waist circumference =102 cm and =88 cm in men and women were defined as abdominal obesity. SPSS 16.0 software was used for statistical analysis and P < 0.05 considered as statistical significance.

Results:

Averagely, the mean of age was 44.2 years and mean ± standard deviation of plasma total cholesterol level was 203 ± 11.3 mg/dl. The HC was seen in 50.8% of subjects with a more common in women than in men. Compared with normal subjects, in abdominal obese people, the odds ratio (OR) of HC was (OR = 4.208 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.939–9.130]) and (OR = 3.956 [95% CI: 1.821–8.592]) in men aged 25–35 and 35–45 years, respectively. In women aged 25–35 years, it was (OR = 3.444 [95% CI: 1.959–6.056]) in abdominal obese compared with normal subjects.

Conclusion:

Hypercholesterolemia was revealed as a major health problem among adults, and it was associated with abdominal obesity especially in the early middle-age in the north of Iran. This association was not significant in men and women after the age of 45 and 35, respectively.