Coffee consumption, alcohol use, and cigarette smoking as determinants of serum total and HDL cholesterol in two Serbian cohorts of the Seven Countries Study

Abstract

The associations between serum total and HDL cholesterol and three lifestyle factors-consumption of Turkish coffee, consumption of alcohol, and cigarette smoking-were examined in two Serbian cohorts of the Seven Countries Study. In 1988 and 1989, 319 men from Zrenjanin and Belgrade, 65 to 84 years old and free of myocardial infarction, participated. The men from Zrenjanin were originally working in a large cooperative, and the men from Belgrade were faculty members of the university. HDL cholesterol, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking were significantly higher in Zrenjanin than in Belgrade. Serum total cholesterol levels and coffee consumption were not different. ANCOVA showed that serum total cholesterol levels were 8.2% higher (P