Is very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol a good predictor of MI?
It might be time to elevate its importance over LDL, a large Danish study suggests
Half the risk of myocardial infarction from elevated plasma lipids that contain apolipoprotein B (apoB) comes from very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), Danish researchers report.
The investigators analysed records of more than 25,000 individuals (mean age 51, 53% female, 24% smokers) in the Copenhagen General Population Study.
At baseline none of the participants were on lipid-lowering therapy and none had experienced an MI.
All had accurate measurements made by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of the triglyceride and cholesterol content of the apoB portion of their lipids — which includes low density lipoproteins (LDL), intermediate-density lipoproteins (IDL) and VLDL.
