[The serum triglycerides and their role as a coronary risk factor (author's transl)]

Abstract

291 patients with various types of hyperlipoproteinemia and 216 persons with normal serum lipid levels were examined for the frequency of angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. As a risk factor of myocardial infarction, Fredrickson's Type IIb was ranking on top, followed by simultaneous elevation of serum cholesterol and serum triglycerides regardless of the lipid-electrophoretic tappern, followed by Fredrickson's Type IV and finally by isolated hypercholesterolemia and Fredrickson's Type IIa. For angina pectoris, the order was slightly different: the highest risk factor was the simultaneous elevation of serum cholesterol and serum triglycerides, followed by hyperlipoproteinemia Type IV, hyperlipoproteinemia Type IIb, and finally by isolated hypercholesterolemia. The risk of both myocardial infarction and angina pectoris caused by isolated hypertriglycerolemia was not statistically significant, the same observation was made for the risk of angina pectoris in hyperlipoproteinemia Tye IIa. The present results confirm that an elevation of the serum triglycerides plays a minor role as a coronary risk factor in comparison to hypercholesterolemia.