TUESDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified a direct link between non-fasting triglycerides and increased risk for ischemic stroke, according to a report published in the Nov. 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In a prospective study, Jacob J. Freiberg, M.D., of Herlev Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues studied 13,956 men and women (aged 20 to 93 years) from the Copenhagen City Heart Study, over a period of 31 years, for incidence of ischemic stroke and baseline levels of non-fasting triglycerides. In a cross-sectional study of 9,637 individuals attending the 1991-1994 examination of the prospective study, the endpoints included non-fasting triglycerides, levels of remnant cholesterol, and prevalence of ischemic stroke.
Of the 1,529 patients developing ischemic stroke in the general population at the highest levels of non-fasting triglycerides (443 mg/dL or greater), there was a threefold and fourfold risk of ischemic stroke in men and women, respectively, the report indicates. Absolute 10-year risk of ischemic stroke ranged from 2.6 percent in men (1.9 percent in women) younger than 55 years with non-fasting triglyceride levels less than 89 mg/dL to 16.7 percent in men (12.2 percent in women) 55 years or older with triglyceride levels of 443 mg/dL or greater. In the cross-sectional study, the researchers found that patients with previous ischemic stroke had increased levels of non-fasting triglycerides and remnant cholesterol but not low-density lipoproteins.
These results and other studies "suggest that elevated levels of non-fasting triglycerides and remnant lipoprotein cholesterol could be considered together with elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol for prediction of cardiovascular risk," the authors conclude."
One author disclosed financial relationships with several pharmaceutical companies.
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