Association of exposures to serum terpenes with the prevalence of dyslipidemia: a population-based analysis

Abstract

Abstract This study sought to examine hitherto unresearched relationships between serum terpenes and the prevalence of dyslipidemia. Serum terpenes such as limonene, α-pinene and β-pinene from the 2013–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used as independent variables. Continuous lipid variables included total cholesterol [TC], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], non-HDL-C, triglycerides [TG], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C], residual cholesterol [RC], and apolipoprotein B [Apo B]. Binary lipid variables (elevated TC, ≥ 5.18 mmol/L; lowered HDL-C, < 1.04 mmol/L in men and < 1.30 mmol/L in women; elevated non-HDL-C, ≥ 4.2 mmol/L; elevated TG, ≥ 1.7 mmol/L; elevated LDL-C, ≥ 3.37 mmol/L; elevated RC, ≥ 1.0 mmol/L; and elevated Apo B, ≥ 1.3 g/L) suggest dyslipidaemia. Serum terpene relationships with lipid variables were investigated using multivariate logistic and weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression. The study for TC, HDL-C, and non-HDL-C included a total of 1,621 people, whereas the analysis for TG, LDL-C, RC, and Apo B comprised 761 participants. We found that tertiles of serum terpene were positively associated with binary (elevated TC, non-HDL-C, TG, LDL-C, RC, Apo B, and lowered HDL-C) and continuous (TC, non-HDL-C, TG, LDL-C, RC, and Apo B, but not HDL-C) serum lipid variables. There was no significant correlation between serum α-pinene tertiles and elevated Apo B. A WQS regression analysis revealed that all serum lipid variables were linked with a blend of three serum terpenes. According to our data, the prevalence of dyslipidemia was correlated with serum concentrations of three terpenes both separately and collectively.