Associations of Blood Lipid-Related Indices with Blood Pressure and Pulse Pressure in Middle-Aged Men

INTRODUCTION: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C/HDL-C) ratio is known as a classical atherogenic index. In addition, triglycerides to HDL-C (TGs/HDL-C) ratio and lipid accumulation product (LAP) have been proposed to be good discriminators for cardiometabolic risk. The aim of this study was to determine which lipid index is most strongly associated with blood pressure and pulse pressure. METHODS: The subjects were 36,536 Japanese men aged 35-60 years who were not receiving drug therapy for dyslipidemia. Relationships of each lipid index with blood pressure and pulse pressure were investigated by using linear and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: There were significant positive correlations of systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure with the lipid-related indices such as LDL-C/HDL-C ratio, TGs/HDL-C ratio, and LAP. The correlations with LAP were significantly stronger than those with the LDL-C/HDL-C ratio and the TGs/HDL-C ratio. Odds ratios (ORs) for hypertension and high pulse pressure in subjects with versus subjects without high levels of each lipid-related index were significantly higher than the reference level of 1.00. The ORs of subjects with versus subjects without high LAP tended to be higher than the ORs of subjects with versus subjects without high LDL-C/HDL-C ratio or high TGs/HDL-C ratio. In the linear and logistic regression analyses, the associations of the lipid-related indices with pulse pressure were weaker than the corresponding associations with blood pressure. CONCLUSION: LAP shows stronger associations with blood pressure and pulse pressure than the other lipid-related indices and is suggested to be better for discriminating the risk of hypertension.