Fasting Lipid Profile Measurement

Fasting blood samples were collected in the morning after at least 12 h of fasting for all participants. Blood samples were obtained from an antecubital vein and collected in Vacutainer tubes containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Values for fasting plasma glucose (FPG), TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, TG, and other routine blood biochemical indexes were obtained using an autoanalyzer (Olympus, Kobe, Japan). According to the National Cholesterol Education Program-Third Adult Treatment Panel (ATP III) criteria, high TC was defined as TC ≥ 6.21 mmol/L (240 mg/dL); low HDL-C was defined as HDL-C < 1.03 mmol/L (40 mg/dL); high LDL-C was defined as LDL-C ≥ 4.16 mmol/L (160 mg/dL); and high TG was defined as ≥2.26 mmol/L (200 mg/dL) [14 (link)]. Dyslipidemia was defined as having at least one high LDL-C, high TC, low HDL-C, or high TG, as this method had been widely used in China [15 (link),16 (link)].