Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 in coronary heart disease: Review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Risk associations between lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) and adverse outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) remain unclear. The aim of the meta-analysis was to investigate the association between Lp-PLA2 and prognosis of CHD.

METHODS: PubMed and Embase were examined for prospective studies published before June 2016. Multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of adverse outcomes according to Lp-PLA2 activity or mass were extracted, pooled, and weighted using generic inverse-variance and random-effect modeling.

RESULTS: Fifteen studies with 30,857 participants were included. Overall, higher Lp-PLA2 activity or mass was not significantly related to increased risk of long-term all-cause mortality. However, higher Lp-PLA2 activity or mass was independently associated with an increased risk of long-term cardiovascular events, with pooled HR for cardiovascular events of 1.55 (95% CI, 1.08-2.23; P=0.018) and 1.62 (95% CI, 1.09-2.41; P=0.017), respectively. The prognostic value of Lp-PLA2 in predicting cardiovascular events was observed in patients with stable CHD who were not receiving therapies for inhibiting Lp-PLA2.

CONCLUSIONS: Greater Lp-PLA2 activity or mass was independently associated with cardiovascular events in patients with CHD, particularly in patients with stable CHD who were not receiving therapies for inhibiting Lp-PLA2.