Use of Lipid Parameters to Identify Healthy Men at a Higher Risk of Arterial Stiffness Progression

Abstract

Background: Dyslipidemia contributes to the development and progression of arterial stiffness. We aimed to confirm the superiority of the serum lipids and their calculated ratios in predicting arterial stiffness progression.Methods: Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) of 612 healthy males (47.0 ± 10.5 years) were measured at baseline. Values for non-HDL-C, TC/HDL-C, TG/HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, and non-HDL-C/HDL-C were calculated. BaPWV was re-performed after 4.1 years follow-up. A baPWV cutoff of 1400 cm/s was used to diagnose arterial stiffness.Results: Over the follow-up period, the mean baPWV value increased from 1330 cm/s to 1400 cm/s, and 309 individuals increased/persisted with high baPWV (outcome 1). Among the 430 subjects who were free of arterial stiffness at baseline, 90 arterial stiffness events occurred (outcome 2). Only logTG (OR 1.65 [95% CI: 1.14-2.40] for outcome 1; 2.08 [1.24-3.52] for outcome 2) and logTG/HDL-C (1.56 [1.15-2.13] for outcome 1; 1.69 [1.10-2.62] for outcome 2) were significantly associated with arterial stiffness progression after adjusting for confounding factors. Adding logTG or logTG/HDL-C to age and blood pressure improved the accuracy of risk predictions for arterial stiffness progression. These associations remained significant when lipids were analyzed as categorical variables.Conclusions: Baseline serum TG and TG/HDL-C were independently associated with increases in/persistently high baPWV and incident arterial stiffness, and they performed more effectively than other lipid variables in identifying healthy men at a higher risk of arterial stiffness progression.