Evaluating the incremental benefits of raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels during lipid therapy after adjustment for the reductions in other blood lipid levels.
Pubmed ID: 19858435
Journal: Archives of internal medicine
Publication Date: Oct. 26, 2009
MeSH Terms: Humans, Male, Female, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cardiovascular Diseases, Odds Ratio, Middle Aged, Body Mass Index, Proportional Hazards Models, Treatment Outcome, Blood Pressure, Multivariate Analysis, Comorbidity, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Anticholesteremic Agents, Cholesterol, HDL, Predictive Value of Tests, Triglycerides, Cholesterol, LDL, Hypolipidemic Agents, Biomarkers
Authors: Grover SA, Kaouache M, Joseph L, Barter P, Davignon J
Cite As: Grover SA, Kaouache M, Joseph L, Barter P, Davignon J. Evaluating the incremental benefits of raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels during lipid therapy after adjustment for the reductions in other blood lipid levels. Arch Intern Med 2009 Oct 26;169(19):1775-80.
Studies:
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The role of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) as a therapeutic target to prevent cardiovascular (CV) events remains unclear. We examined data from the Framingham Offspring Study from 1975 through 2003 to determine whether increases in HDL-C levels after lipid therapy was started were independently associated with a reduction in CV events. METHODS: Using Cox proportional-hazards regression, we evaluated the risk of a CV event associated with changes in blood lipid levels among individuals who started lipid therapy. The independent effect of HDL-C levels on future CV risk (average follow-up, 8 years) was estimated after adjustment for changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, plasma triglycerides, and pretreatment blood lipid levels. Potential confounders (eg, smoking status, weight, and the use of beta-blockers) were then added to the model. Interactions between blood lipid levels were also explored. RESULTS: The change in HDL-C level was a strong independent risk factor for CV events (hazard ratio, 0.79 per 5-mg/dL increase; 95% confidence interval, 0.67-0.93) after adjustment for the other lipid changes associated with treatment. This relationship remained stable across a wide range of patient subgroups and did not appear to be associated with a specific drug class. An important interaction was observed: the lower the pretreatment low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, the greater the impact of raising the HDL-C. CONCLUSIONS: Raising HDL-C levels with commonly used lipid medications appears to be an important determinant of the benefits associated with lipid therapy. These results support the further evaluation of therapies to raise HDL-C levels to prevent CV events.