Lipid profile components and incident cerebrovascular events versus coronary heart disease; the result of 9 years follow-up in Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of lipid component total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and non-HDL-C on risk of stroke events versus coronary heart disease (CHD).

METHODS: The study was conducted on 2620 Iranians, aged ≥ 50 years, free from cardiovascular events at baseline (1999-2001). The multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) for stroke/CHD were calculated for 1 mmol/L change in lipid components, using Cox proportional hazard regression.

RESULTS: During 9.1 years of follow-up, 73 and 358 cases of stroke and CHD occurred. We found significant interactions between TC and non-HDL-C with gender in risk prediction of stroke. Among women, multivariate adjusted HRs of ischemic stroke were 1.40 (1.08-1.82), 1.66 (0.71-3.86), 2.27 (0.58-8.91), 1.51 (1.06-2.15) and 1.36 (1.024-1.78) for TC, Ln TG, HDL-C, LDL-C and non-HDL-C respectively, while corresponding HRs of ischemic stroke for men were 0.78 (0.55-1.11), 0.71 (0.33-1.51), 1.04 (0.24-4.47), 0.82 (0.56-1.22), 0.78 (0.55-1.11), respectively. We found no interaction between gender and any of the lipids in risk prediction of incident CHD (p > 0.3). All lipid components were independently associated with CHD in whole population.

CONCLUSION: The associations of lipid components on ischemic stroke were modified by gender. Only among female population, TC, LDL-C and non-HDL-C were independently associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke. Regarding CHD events, all lipid components were significant predictors.