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BACKGROUND: Increased plasma lipoprotein(a) Lp(a) concentrations have been reported to be an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) in some prospective studies, but not in others. These inconsistencies may relate to a lack of standardization and the failure of some immunoassays to measure all apolipoprotein(a) isoforms equally. METHODS: We measured plasma Lp(a)-cholesterol Lp(a)-C in a Caucasian population of offspring and spouses of the Framingham Heart Study participants, using a lectin-based assay (LipoproTM). We compared the prevalence of increased Lp(a)-C to the presence of sinking pre-beta-lipoprotein (SPB). We also related Lp(a)-C concentrations to the prevalence of CHD risk in the entire population. RESULTS: The mean (+/- SD) Lp(a)-C concentration in the Framingham population (n = 3121) was 0.186 +/- 0.160 mmol/L, with no significant gender or age differences. The mean Lp(a)-C concentrations in the absence or presence of SPB were 0.158 +/- 0. 132 mmol/L and 0.453 +/- 0.220 mmol/L, respectively (P /=0. 259 mmol/L (>/=10 mg/dL), after adjusting for age, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, and body mass index, was 2.293 (confidence interval, 1.55-3.94; P /=0.259 mmol/L (>/=10 mg/dL) is an independent CHD risk factor in men with a relative risk of more than 2, but was inconclusive in women. Lp(a)-C measurements offer an alternative to Lp(a)-mass immunoassays and can be performed on automated analyzers.
Seman et al. (Thu,) studied this question.