The goal of the present study was to assess the impact of variability at the APOC-III insulin response element (APOC-III IRE) genetic locus on lipid, lipoprotein and complex lipoprotein particle levels as well as on the risk of dyslipidemia, in the population of northern France. To this end, 590 men and 579 women were randomly selected in the urban community of Lille in the framework of the MONICA project. Three polymorphisms, -482, -455 in the APOC-III insulin response element (IRE) and SstI in the 3'-noncoding region of the APOC-III gene locus were assessed. Compared to the most common alleles, the rare alleles of -482 and -455 were associated with increased levels of apoB-containing particles (LDL-cholesterol, apoB) and of triglyceride-related markers (apoC-III and LpC-III:B) in women, but not in men, suggesting a gender-related impact of APOC-III polymorphisms on these variables. Similarly, triglycerides, LpC-III:B and apoB were higher in women bearing the rare allele of SstI than in those with the most common allele. There was no evidence for any significant association between any of the -482, -455, and SstI alleles and lipid disorders (mixed hyperlipidemia, hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia) in this sample of randomly selected men and women from northern France. In contrast, the prevalence of the haplotype that combined the rare alleles of the -482 and -455 sites was increased only in women with hypertriglyceridemia. Therefore, although the individual risk of hypertriglyceridemia is increased in women with the haplotype T, C at -482, -455, it appears that the -482, -455 and SstI APOC-III gene polymorphisms are not major contributors to the risk of dyslipidemia in the population of northern France.