It is well established that abdominal obesity is related to numerous metabolic abnormalities and that this correlation represents a significant risk factor for coronary heart disease and related mortality. In the present study the relationships among the regional distribution of body fat, selected metabolic variables, and abdominal adipose cell lipolysis were investigated in 30 premenopausal women, 34 +/- 8 yr (mean +/- SD) of age, with body mass indices ranging from 17-45 kg/m2. Basal as well as epinephrine- and isoproterenol-stimulated lipolyses were positively correlated with fasting plasma insulin and triglyceride levels (0.48 less than r less than 0.64; 0.05 greater than P less than 0.0005 and 0.46 less than r less than 0.60; 0.05 greater than P less than 0.005, respectively) and with the insulin area measured during an oral glucose tolerance test (0.49 less than r less than 0.67; 0.005 greater than P less than 0.0005). With the exception of epinephrine-stimulated lipolysis, these correlations remained significant when lipolysis was corrected for cell surface area. Basal and maximal epinephrine- and isoproterenol-induced lipolyses were also negatively related to plasma high density lipoprotein cholesterol (-0.52 less than r less than -0.36; 0.05 greater than P less than 0.005). However, these relationships were no longer significant after control for fat cell surface. The associations between abdominal lipolysis and fat distribution did not remain significant when data were adjusted for total adiposity. Taken together, these results support the notion that variations in abdominal adipocyte lipolysis 1) depend more on total body fatness than on fat distribution, and 2) may be involved in the metabolic complications associated with abdominal obesity, particularly those pertaining to plasma insulin and triglyceride metabolism.