Cardiovascular Diabetology (Sep 2020)

Long-term prognostic utility of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) triglyceride in real-world patients with coronary artery disease and diabetes or prediabetes

  • Jing-Lu Jin,
  • Hui-Wen Zhang,
  • Ye-Xuan Cao,
  • Hui-Hui Liu,
  • Qi Hua,
  • Yan-Fang Li,
  • Yan Zhang,
  • Yuan-Lin Guo,
  • Na-Qiong Wu,
  • Cheng-Gang Zhu,
  • Rui-Xia Xu,
  • Ying Gao,
  • Xiao-Lin Li,
  • Chuan-Jue Cui,
  • Geng Liu,
  • Jing Sun,
  • Qian Dong,
  • Raul Santos,
  • Jian-Jun Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12933-020-01125-1
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Abstract Background Recent guidelines highlighted the association between atherosclerosis and triglyceride-enriched lipoproteins in patients with impaired glucose metabolism. However, evidence from prospective studies for long-term prognostic utility of low-density lipoprotein triglyceride (LDL-TG) in real-world patients with prediabetes (Pre-DM) or diabetes mellitus (DM) and coronary artery disease (CAD) is currently not available. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of LDL-TG on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients with stable CAD under different glucose metabolism status. Methods A total of 4381 patients with CAD were consecutively enrolled and plasma LDL-TG level was measured by an automated homogeneous assay. They were categorized according to both status of glucose metabolism [DM, Pre-DM, normal glycaemia regulation (NGR)] and tertiles of LDL-TG. All subjects were followed up for the occurrence of MACEs. Results During a median of 5.1 (interquartile range 3.9 to 5.9) years’ follow-up, 507 (11.6%) MACEs occurred. Cubic spline models showed a significant association between LDL-TG and MACEs in DM and Pre-DM but not in NGR. When the combined effect of elevated LDL-TG and glucose disorders was considered for risk stratification, the medium tertile of LDL-TG plus DM, and the highest tertile of LDL-TG plus Pre-DM or plus DM subgroups were associated with significantly higher risk of MACEs after adjustment of confounders including triglyceride [hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals): 1.843 (1.149–2.955), 1.828 (1.165–2.867), 2.212 (1.396–3.507), all p < 0.05]. Moreover, adding LDL-TG into the original model increased the C-statistic from 0.687 to 0.704 (∆C-statistic = 0.016, p = 0.028) and from 0.734 to 0.749 (∆C-statistic = 0.014, p = 0.002) in Pre-DM and DM, respectively. Conclusions In this longitudinal cohort study on real-world practice, higher LDL-TG was associated with worse outcomes among Pre-DM and DM patients with stable CAD.

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