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Do triglycerides provide meaningful information about heart disease risk?
1General Internal Medicine Section (111-A1), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 4150 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121. avins@itsa.ucsf. edu.
Archives of Internal Medicine
|July 11, 2000
Summary
Measuring triglyceride levels does not significantly improve coronary heart disease (CHD) prediction in men beyond cholesterol subfractions. This study found limited additional value for triglycerides in assessing CHD risk for men.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Preventive Medicine
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Previous studies suggested triglyceride levels might enhance coronary heart disease (CHD) prediction.
- Cholesterol subfractions are established markers for CHD risk assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the added predictive value of triglyceride measurements alongside cholesterol levels and subfractions for CHD.
- To determine if triglyceride levels offer incremental information for CHD risk stratification.
Main Methods:
- Secondary analysis of data from three large cohort studies.
- Utilized Cox proportional hazards models and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.
- Included variables such as lipids, glucose, age, blood pressure, smoking, BMI, and estrogen use.
Main Results:
- Triglyceride measurements generally did not improve CHD event discrimination when added to cholesterol subfractions.
- No significant interactions were found between cholesterol subfractions and triglyceride levels in most analyses.
- In men, triglyceride levels provided no significant additional CHD risk information beyond cholesterol subfractions.
Conclusions:
- Serum triglyceride levels do not offer clinically meaningful CHD risk prediction beyond cholesterol subfractions in men.
- Further research may be needed to clarify the role of triglycerides in specific populations, like women.