BACKGROUND: The Saudi population is known to have an unhealthy diet in addition to physical inactivity. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the lipid-mediated risk factors that might be associated with increased incidence of coronary heart diseasein the Saudi population as this was found in Western populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred and twenty subjects suspected of having coronary heart disease underwent coronary angiography and blood draw following a 12-hour fast. Total and HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, Lp(a) and lipoprotein lipase were measured by standard methods. Small, dense LDL was measured by the iodixanol method with an ultracentrifugation of only 2.5 hours. RESULTS: One hundred and forty subjects were found to be positive for coronary heart disease while 80 subjects were shown to be negative for this disease. Statistically significant risk factors for coronary heart disease in the Saudi population were hypertriglyceridemia (1.93±0.95 versus1.45±0.16 mmol/L;p<0.0001); low HDL cholesterol (1.09±0.55 vs 1.33±0.63 mmol/L, p=0.0001); high Lp(a) (46.8±45.58 versus 29.06±17.03 mg/dL;p=0.019); and the presence of small, dense LDL (1.0314±0.0028 versus 1.0300±0.0003 g/kg;p=0.0099). Total cholesterol (4.99±1.11 versus 4.75±1.11 mmol/L;p=0.099), LPL (35.56±26.6 versus 27.89±11.96 IU/L;p<0.059), and LDL cholesterol (3.06±1.12 versus 2.79±1.08 mmol/L;p=0.08) were not found to be statistically significant coronary heart disease risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that high TG, low HDL, high Lp(a) and the presence of small, dense LDL may contribute to the incidence of coronary heart disease and that TC was not significantly associated with incidence of coronary heart disease in the Saudi population.
Coronary disease; triglycerides; cholesterol; HDL; LDL; lipoproteins
