[Plasma lipids in reflex sympathetic dystrophy. A study apropos of 90 cases]

Plasma levels of cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, and apolipoproteins A1 and B were assayed in ninety patients (sixty-four male and twenty-six female) with reflex sympathetic dystrophy and in ninety controls matched for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). No significant differences were found between the two groups for the proportions of patients with increased plasma cholesterol levels (6.6% versus 4.4%) or increased plasma triglyceride levels (40% versus 30%), as defined by Turpin's age and sex-specific criteria, or for mean values of these parameters. In the 38 patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy of less than 3.5 months duration, plasma triglyceride levels were significantly higher than in the 38 matched controls (1.24 + 0.57 g/l versus 1.02 +/- 0.91; p = 0.04). In patients (n = 52) with disease of more than four months duration (range 4-39), plasma triglyceride levels were similar in the two groups. Lipidemia was similar in patients and controls regardless of age, sex, topography of the disease, clinical manifestations, and whether or not the disease was due to an injury. This study, in contrast to previous reports, failed to disclose an association between reflex sympathetic dystrophy and hyperlipidemia. Transient hypertriglyceridemia may occur during the first 3 1/2 months of the disease as a result of initial immobilization.