Lipids and apolipoprotein profiles in men with aneurysmal and stenosing aorto-iliac atherosclerosis

The plasma lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins have been compared in two groups of men with aorto-iliac atherosclerosis: Aneurysmal disease (n = 42) and stenosing disease (n = 86). The mean age of the men aneurysmal disease was 67.5 +/- 5.8 years and the mean age of the men with stenosing disease was 65.0 +/- 6.1 years: There was no significant different in body mass indices or smoking habits between the groups. The patients with aneurysmal disease had lower levels of plasma cholesterol than patients with stenosing disease (5.53 +/- 1.17 versus 6.11 +/- 1.20 mmol/L, P less than 0.05), but carried more cholesterol in VLDL compared to patients with stenosing disease (1.00 +/- 0.90 versus 0.60 +/- 65 mmol/L, P less than 0.05). Significantly lower concentration of apolipoprotein AI and HDL-cholesterol in patients with aneurysmal disease (ApoAI 1.01 +/- 0.31 versus 1.18 +/- 0.31 mmol/L, P less than 0.02, HDL 0.93 +/- 0.53 versus 1.13 +/- 0.34, P less than 0.05) was another characteristic difference between these two groups of patients with peripheral arterial disease. Otherwise, there were no obvious differences in the levels of plasma triglyceride, VLDL-triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol, and apolipoproteins B, C-III and E between the two groups. Although lipid and apolipoprotein profiles may not discriminate between aneurysmal and stenosing disease, different types of lipoprotein particles may contribute to the atherosclerotic process characterising both diseases.