Journal Article

Remnant Cholesterol and Myocardial Infarction in Normal Weight, Overweight, and Obese Individuals from the Copenhagen General Population Study

Freiberg, Jacob J, Nordestgaard, Børge G, Varbo, Anette

2018

Overview

We tested whether high remnant cholesterol is associated with high myocardial infarction risk, independent of whether an individual is normal weight, overweight, or obese. A total of 106216 individuals from the Copenhagen General Population Study were followed for up to 11 years, during which 1565 experienced a myocardial infarction. Individuals were grouped by clinically meaningful remnant cholesterol concentrations of <0.5 mmol/L (19 mg/dL), 0.5 to 0.99 mmol/L (19-38 mg/dL), 1.0 to 1.49 mmol/L (39-58 mg/dL), and ≥1.5 mmol/L (58 mg/dL), and by body mass index (BMI) of <18.5 kg/m (underweight), 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m (normal weight), 25 to 29.9 kg/m (overweight), and ≥30 kg/m (obese). Median calculated remnant cholesterol was 0.40 mmol/L [interquartile range (IQR), 0.30-0.55 mmol/L] [15 mg/dL (12-21 mg/dL)] for underweight, 0.50 mmol/L (IQR, 0.37-0.71 mmol/L) [19 mg/dL (14-27 mg/dL)] for normal weight, 0.70 mmol/L (IQR, 0.49-1.00 mmol/L) [27 mg/dL (19-39 mg/dL)] for overweight, and 0.85 mmol/L (IQR, 0.61-1.20 mmol/L) [(33 mg/dL (24-46 mg/dL)] for obese individuals. On continuous scales, remnant cholesterol was positively correlated with BMI until reaching a plateau of approximately 1 mmol/L (39 mg/dL) at BMI >35 kg/m . from an unadjusted linear regression for the correlation between calculated remnant cholesterol and BMI was 12%. Stepwise higher remnant cholesterol was associated with stepwise higher myocardial infarction risk in a similar pattern for normal weight, overweight, and obese individuals. When compared with individuals with remnant cholesterol <0.5 mmol/L (19 mg/dL), individuals with remnant cholesterol ≥1.5 mmol/L (58 mg/dL) had hazard ratios for myocardial infarction of 2.0 (95% CI, 1.3-3.2) for normal weight, 1.9 (95% CI, 1.4-2.6) for overweight, and 2.3 (95% CI, 1.4-3.5) for obese individuals. Directly measured remnant cholesterol increased 0.91 mmol/L (95% CI, 0.89-0.94 mmol/L) [35 mg/dL (34-36 mg/dL)] per 1 mmol/L (39 mg/dL) increase in calculated remnant cholesterol. Remnant cholesterol and BMI were positively correlated; however, high remnant cholesterol was associated with higher myocardial infarction risk across the examined BMI subcategories, indicating that remnant cholesterol is a risk factor for myocardial infarction independent of overweight and obesity.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Subject: Aged / Body Mass Index / Body size / Body Weight / Cardiovascular disease / Cholesterol / Cholesterol - blood / Correlation / Denmark - epidemiology / Female / Health risk assessment / Heart attacks / Humans / Low density lipoprotein / Male / Mathematical analysis / Middle Aged / Mortality / Myocardial infarction / Myocardial Infarction - blood / Myocardial Infarction - complications / Myocardial Infarction - epidemiology / Obesity / Obesity - blood / Obesity - complications / Overweight / Overweight - blood / Overweight - complications / Population studies / Population Surveillance / Population-based studies / Risk Factors / Underweight