The importance of metabolic syndrome as a risk factor of coronary artery disease (CAD) has recently become more and more recognized. In view of such a background, changes in cholesterol and other lipid parameters in the Japanese population associated with excess body weight and hypertension were analyzed in this study based on data obtained in an epidemiological survey carried out in 1990. Hypertension was closely associated with a higher body mass index (BMI). Among the lipid parameters, triglyceride (TG) and non-HDL-C (total cholesterol minus HDL-cholesterol) levels showed remarkable differences between hypertensive and normotensive subjects, with a greater statistical significance than LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. Changes in lipid parameters in the presence of hypertension were mostly associated with an increase in BMI in younger men aged 20-39, while increases in TG levels took place independently of excess body weight in middle-aged (40-59-year old) men. Considering that hypertension is a common and the greatest risk factor in the Japanese population, TG and non-HDL-C appear to be more important than LDL-C as major lipid parameters related to atherogenesis.