[Relative C H D predictive value of serum cholesterol and triglycerides. New epidemiological data (author's transl)]

The epidemiological question whether triglycerides (TG) adds a significant information to cholesterol (CH) alone in predicting coronary heart disease is so far controversal. The problem is taken up from the results of the prospective study of the G.R.E.A.: 148 new coronary cases have been observed in a 7263 working male population followed during four years and aged 42-53 at entry. It is shown that risk increases continuously with TG and CH but the contribution of TG (or Log TG) is not per se significant. From an alternative model founded upon the hypothesis of two subgroups (less than 220 mg p. 100, greater than or equal to 220 mg p. 100) in the TG distribution, a slight but significant risk supplement is shown to be associated with TG values more than 220 mg p. 100. This result may be interpreted by qualitative and/or quantitative differences in plasma lipoproteins according to the TG level, and may reconcile clinical and epidemiological data concerning "atherogenic" hyperlipidemias.