The purpose of this study was to measure serum lipids concentrations by gender and age, and to investigated the relation of serum lipids levels to cigarette smoking alcohol intake exercise and menopausal status in Korean adults. The subjects consisted of 463 healthy adult(29- men and 173 women) volunteers who were visiting the health Promotion Center in the Asan Medical Center from July 1, 1994 to July 22, 1994 Subjects were ambulatory free-living people and aged 20- 80 years, Anthropometric measurement was performed and serum triglyceride(TG), HDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol(TChol) concentrations were measure by automatic system(Hitachi 736-40). Data on life styles were obtained using structured questionnaires issued by a trained interviewer, All data were statistically analyzed by PC-SAS(Version 6.04) Serum concentrations of triglyceride and total cholesterol was higher(p<0.05) in men than in women, and serum HDL-cholesterol was lower(p<0.05) in men than in women. The prevalence of hyperlipidemia(TG>170 mg/dL and TChol>220 mg /dL) was 12.5% in men and 4.1% in women. The levels of serum triglyceride, total cholesterol and BMI increased with age in women. The distribution curves of serum triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol of women were located in lower increased more rapidly with aging than in men, The distribution curves of BMI of women increased with aging after the thirties, The BMI of women was located in higher levels than of men in their sixties. The serum concentration of triglyceride and total cholesterol of male current-smokers and non- smokers were significantly(p<0.05) higher than those of ex-smokers. The concentrations triglyceride the male current0drinkers were higher(p<0.05) than those of male non-drinkers. In non-smokers and non- drinkers, serum TG concentration were lower (p<0.05) than those of current-smokers and current-drinkers. In exercisers, the serum triglyceride concentration was significantly(p<0.05) lower than in non- exercisers. In postmenopausal woman BMI and serum concentrations of TChol, TG and LDL-Chol were significantly by age and gender and smoking alcohol drinking, exercise and menopausal staus might be a better indicator to predict serum lipids in both genders.