Cardiovascular risk and metabolic profile of Polish citizens from Lower Silesia. First signs of metabolic crisis?

Abstract

Introduction: Population biobanks are essential for the development of public health screening and improvement of personalized medicine. Since 2012, Biobank of Łukasiewicz Research Network - PORT Polish Center for Technology Development (PORT Biobank) has collected more than 120 000 biological samples from nearly 5000 inhabitants of Lower Silesia, together with a variety of demographic, anthropometric, life style and health information.

Material and methods: The analyzed group consisted of 2274 participants (1398 women, 876 men). Both women and men were further subdivided into five age decades (20+, 30+, 40+, 50+, 60+). For this study, the level of lipids (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides) was estimated and correlated with the level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and biometric parameters.

Results: We have demonstrated for the first time that biochemical changes that may lead to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) occurred already in the group of people aged 30+. Our observation is based on measurements of lipids, glucose, inflammatory (hs-CRP) and biometric markers such as body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).

Conclusions: Positive correlations with age for these variables suggest the ongoing progress of metabolic changes, which in the end may lead to a fatal outcome such as myocardial infarction or stroke. It suggests that CVD screening programs should be dedicated to a wider group, especially younger citizens, in order to prevent fatal outcomes related to CVD.

Keywords: biobanking; cardiovascular diseases; metabolic crisis; population-based screening.

Figure 1

Changes in lipid profile relative to age groups in Lower Silesia inhabitants. Serum lipid profile, A – total cholesterol (tCHOL), B – triglycerides (TG) and D – high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were measured by enzymatic assay, as described in Material and methods section. C – Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level was calculated with Friedewald formula. Results exceeding reference values are indicated with a star. Values that increased significantly between particular age decades are indicated with a linker (Pearson’s χ² test; p < 0.0001). Reference values for: tCHOL 2.97–4.91 mM, TG 0.56–1.69 mM, LDL-C < 2.97 mM, HDL-C > 1.03 mM

Figure 2

A – High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), B – glucose (GLUC), C – body mass index (BMI) and D – waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) profiles in relation to age decades. Serum hs-CRP level was measured by immunological agglutination and turbidimetric precipitate determination; GLUC level was measured by enzymatic reaction with hexokinase; BMI and WHR were calculated as described in Material and methods section. Results exceeding reference values are indicated with a dot. Values that increased significantly between particular age decades are indicated with a linker (Pearson’s χ² test; p < 0.0001). Reference values for: hs-CRP 0–3.0 mg/l, GLUC: 3.6–5.8 mM, BMI 18.5–24.99, WHR for men ≤ 0.09; WHR for women ≤ 0.085