ABSTRACT
Disorders of lipid metabolism, which occur in various forms in clinical disease entities such as obesity and diabetes, bear a substantial risk for development of coronary heart disease. Obesity in the middle-aged is fairly common and often associated with impaired glucose tolerance or manifest noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus as well as with low level of high density lipoproteins in serum. Diabetic patients show increased levels of serum cholesterol and its low density lipoprotein fraction. In untreated and ketotic insulin dependent diabetics, as well as in patients in poor control of the disease, elevated levels of triglycerides have been found in all lipoprotein fractions except high density lipoprotein, which carries only a minor proportion of triglycerides. Lipid disturbances associated with obesity and noninsulin dependent diabetes are additional risks factors for coronary heart disease, while dyslipoproteinemia with other known risk factors in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus does not alone account for the proneness to atherosclerosis.
