Evaluation of High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Concentrations among Elderly Ischaemic Stroke Patients

Abstract

Introduction:Stroke is the second most common cause of death throughout the world and is the most common cause of severe adult physical disability 1 and third leading cause of death in Bangladesh. 2 The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks mortality due to stroke in Bangladesh as number 84 in the world. The reported prevalence of stroke in Bangladesh is 0.3%. The high number of disability-adjusted life years lost due to stroke (485 per 10,000 people) shows that stroke severely impacts Bangladesh's economy. 2 Recognized risk factors are hypertension, diabetes, smoking, heart disease, dyslipidaemia. So for primary prevention of stroke, risk factors identification is essential. 3 Hyperlipidaemia is manifested by elevation of the plasma concentrations of the various lipid and lipoprotein fractions (total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, VLDL, triglycerides etc). Elevation of total and LDL cholesterol is associated particularly with atherosclerotic disease (like CHD, stroke etc) risk, but it is increasingly clear that moderately raised triglycerides or VLDL in the presence of low HDL-cholesterol may also be atherogenic. 4 There is a well-established inverse relation between serum concentrations of HDL cholesterol and the risk of coronary heart disease, 5 but it is not a welldocumented risk factor for stroke. Several case-control studies have noted an inverse relation between HDL cholesterol and risk of stroke or transient ischemic attack. 6,7,8 The Framingham Study, the Copenhagen Study and the Israeli Heart Disease Study have all demonstrated a trend toward higher risk of thromboembolic stroke with lower HDL cholesterol levels in men. 9,10,11 These data add to the evidence relating lipids to stroke and support HDL-C as an important modifiable stroke risk factor. 12 In conjunction with other risk factors, measurement of HDL cholesterol (commonly available from routine lipid screening) could become an increasingly useful tool for identifying elderly persons at high risk of stroke. Abstract:Stroke is an alarming health hazard all over the world as well as in Bangladesh and one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. There is a well-established inverse relation between serum concentrations of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and the risk of coronary heart diseases but it is not a welldocumented risk factor for stroke. This study was done to evaluate of the HLD-c concentration among elderly ischaemic stroke patients. This cross sectional study was conducted