A 12-hour fasting lipid profile was obtained from 88 otherwise healthy obese (BMI > or = 95%) adolescents (age 16 +/- 1 years, BMI 36 +/- 1 kg/m(2), 55 males, 33 females, 57% Hispanic, 23% African American, 19% Caucasian, 1% Asian American). About 56% of the obese adolescents exhibited lipid abnormalities based on cutoff points established by American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines, and about 57% exhibited lipid abnormalities based on percentile values established by the Lipid Research Clinic Pediatric Prevalence Study. Isolated low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) was the most common abnormality (43% based on AHA, 36% based on the Lipid Research Clinic Pediatric Prevalence Study) among the obese adolescents with lipid disorders. While there was no significant statistical difference (SSD) between genders in the levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride (TG) levels were significantly higher (P = .003) in males (120 +/- 11 mg/dL) than in females (81 +/- 7 mg/dL), and levels of HDL-C were significantly higher (P = .006) in females (42 +/- 2 mg/dL) than in males (35 +/- 1 mg/dL). There was no SSD between races in total cholesterol and LDL-C levels. TG levels were significantly lower in African-American participants (81 +/- 9 mg/ dL) compared with levels in Caucasian participants (117 +/- 15 mg/dL, P </= .05) and with levels in Hispanic participants (112 +/- 11 mg/dL, P = .03). HDL-C levels were significantly higher in African-American participants (43 +/- 3 mg/dL) compared with levels in Hispanic participants (36 +/- 1 mg/dL, P = .03), but there was no SSD when compared with HDL-C levels in Caucasian participants (37 +/- 2 mg/dL).