Who needs to care about small, dense low-density lipoproteins?

Increasing evidence suggest that the 'quality' rather than only the 'quantity' of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) exerts a great influence on the cardiovascular risk. Small, dense LDL seem to be an important predictor of cardiovascular events and progression of coronary artery disease (CAD) and their predominance has been accepted as an emerging cardiovascular risk factor by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III.

Some studies showed in past years that small, dense LDL are usually elevated in patients at very high cardiovascular risk, such as those with CAD and type 2 diabetes. More recently elevated levels of these particles have been found in other categories of patients at high cardiovascular risk, such as those with non-coronary forms of atherosclerosis (e.g. with carotid artery disease, aortic abdominal aneurysm and peripheral arterial disease) and metabolic diseases (with polycystic ovary syndrome and growth hormone deficiency); notably, in most of them, the predominance of small, dense LDL characterised their type of dyslipidaemia, alone or in combination with elevated triglycerides and reduced high-density lipoproteins cholesterol concentrations.

The therapeutical modulation of small, dense LDL have been shown to significantly reduce cardiovascular risk and weight reduction and increased physical activity may constitute first-line therapy. In addition, lipid-lowering drugs are able to favourably alter these particles and fibrates and nicotinic acid seem to be the most effective agents. Promising data are also available with the use of rosuvastatin, the latest statin introduced in the market, and ezetimibe, a cholesterol absorption inhibitor.