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Lp(a) in hypertensive patients
M Catalano1, E Perilli, G Carzaniga
1Research Center on Vascular Diseases, University of Milan, L. Sacco Hospital, Italy.
Insights
Essential arterial hypertension patients exhibit elevated lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) levels, a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This suggests Lp(a) may independently increase atherosclerosis risk in hypertensive individuals.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Lipidology
- Hypertension Research
Background:
- Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) is a recognized risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
- Limited research exists on Lp(a) levels in essential arterial hypertension.
- Hypertension and dyslipidemia are significant risk factors for atherosclerotic vascular diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify serum Lp(a) and lipid profile parameters in untreated essential hypertensive patients.
- To compare Lp(a) and lipid levels between hypertensive patients and healthy controls.
- To investigate potential correlations between Lp(a) and lipid parameters in hypertension.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study comparing 123 essential hypertensive patients with 89 matched controls.
- Measurement of serum Lp(a), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and VLDL-C.
- Matching criteria included age, sex, BMI, and smoking status.
Main Results:
- Hypertensive patients showed significantly higher plasma concentrations of Lp(a), TC, TG, and VLDL-C compared to controls (P < 0.01).
- No significant difference in Lp(a) levels was observed between sexes.
- Lp(a) did not correlate with other measured lipid profile parameters.
Conclusions:
- Hypertension is frequently associated with dyslipidemia.
- Elevated Lp(a) levels, even within the normal range, may act as an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis in hypertensive individuals.
- Higher Lp(a) may contribute to increased cardiovascular disease incidence in essential hypertension.
Abstract:
Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) is considered an important risk factor for coronary disease, cerebrovascular pathology and re-stenosis of coronary bypass. Few studies have been conducted on this lipoprotein in essential arterial hypertensive patients. The purpose of our study was to measure the serum concentrations of Lp(a) and the main parameters of the lipid profile in a group of essential hypertensive patients not receiving pharmacological treatment and with no clinical signs of associated pathologies or organ damage. A total of 123 Caucasian essential arterial hypertensive patients (47 men and 76 women) were studied and compared with 89 controls (36 men and 53 women) matched in terms of age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and smoking habits. It was found that the hypertensive patients had higher plasma concentrations of Lp(a), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C) than controls (P < 0.01), with no differences in the plasma concentrations of Lp(a) between the two sexes. Only 10 hypertension patients and seven controls had plasma concentrations of Lp(a) of over 30 mg/dl. Lp(a) does not correlate with the main parameters of the lipid profile. We can confirm that hypertension and dyslipidaemia, which are two of the main risk factors for vascular diseases on an atherosclerotic basis, are often associated. However, higher plasma concentrations of Lp(a), albeit within the normal range, could be an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis, and could contribute towards increasing the incidence of cardiovascular disease in people with essential arterial hypertension.