Longitudinal change in serum cholesterol levels among isolated hypertriglyceridemic cases

The present study investigated longitudinal change in serum cholesterols of isolated hypertriglyceridemic cases (54 males, 34 females) and age-matched controls (115 males, 98 females) based on a 4-year longitudinal observation. At the baseline, the level of triglyceride was significantly higher in hypertriglyceridemic cases (329 +/- 133mg/dl in males, 274 +/- 76mg/dl in females) than in the controls (81 +/- 18 mg/dl in males, 73 +/- 16mg/dl in females). Further, body mass index (BMI) was also significantly higher than that of the controls. There were no statistical differences in total cholesterol(TC) between the cases (197 +/- 23mg/dl males, 211 +/- 30mg/dl females) and the controls (189 +/- 19mg/dl males, 202 +/- 18mg/dl females). In hypertriglyceridemic cases, both TC and low density lipoprotein plus very low density lipoprotein cholesterols significantly increased between the baseline and the four years later (TC: 197 +/- 23mg/dl to 205 +/- 26mg/dl in males, p < 0.05. 211 +/- 30mg/dl to 227 +/- 44mg/dl in females, p < 0.01), whereas no change was observed in the controls. The BMI of the cases and the controls were unchanged throughout the study period. The present study shows that isolated hypertriglyceridemia with normocholesterolemia proceeds to hypercholesterolemia, which is compatible with endogenous lipoprotein metabolism.