Non-HDL cholesterol as a therapeutic goal

Although cholesterol linked to low-density lipoproteins (c-LDL) is well established as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, there is often a more complex dyslipidaemia pattern that contributes to the formation of atherosclerotic plaque. Non-HDL cholesterol (c-NO-HDL) is used to estimate the total amount of atherogenic lipoproteins in plasma, some of which are not usually determined in daily clinical practice. c-NO-HDL is easily calculated from the subtraction of total plasma cholesterol from the cholesterol content carried by high density lipoproteins. The c-NO-HDL has a predictive value superior to that of C-LDL to estimate the risk of major cardiovascular events in epidemiological studies. Genetic studies by analysis of the complete genome, together with those based on Mendelian randomisation, point to the aetiological character of c-NO-HDL on ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Intervention studies, and the meta-analyses derived from them, close the causal circle between c-NO-HDL and IHD, by demonstrating that any intervention that decreases the concentrations of the former reduces the incidence of arteriosclerotic heart disease. The European ESC/EAS 2016 guide for the management of dyslipidaemia considers c-NO-HDL as a therapeutic target with a Class IIa recommendation (should be performed) Level B (data from a single randomised clinical trial [RCT]) or from several non-RCTs), and sets its target at less than 100 or 130mg/dL for those patients with very high risk or high risk, respectively. These achievable c-NO-HDL values are easily calculated by adding 30mg/dL to the c-LDL targets.