Nonoptimal Lipids Commonly Present in Young Adults and Coronary Calcium Later in Life: The CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) Study — Ann Intern Med

Article
Nonoptimal Lipids Commonly Present in Young Adults and Coronary Calcium Later in Life: The CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) Study
Mark J. Pletcher, MD, MPH; Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD; Kiang Liu, PhD; Steve Sidney, MD, MPH; Feng Lin, MS; Eric Vittinghoff, PhD; and Stephen B. Hulley, MD, MPH

+ Author Affiliations

From University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, and Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, California, and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois.
Abstract
Background: Dyslipidemia causes coronary heart disease in middle-aged and elderly adults, but the consequences of lipid exposure during young adulthood are unclear.

Objective: To assess whether nonoptimal lipid levels during young adulthood cause atherosclerotic changes that persist into middle age.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: 4 cities in the United States.

Participants: 3258 participants from the 5115 black and white men and women recruited at age 18 to 30 years in 1985 to 1986 for the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study.

Measurements: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, and coronary calcium. Time-averaged cumulative exposures to lipids between age 20 and 35 years were estimated by using repeated serum lipid measurements over 20 years in the CARDIA study; these measurements were then related to coronary calcium scores assessed later in life (45 years [SD, 4]).

Results: 2824 participants (87%) had nonoptimal levels of LDL cholesterol (≥2.59 mmol/L [≥100 mg/dL]), HDL cholesterol (<1.55 mmol/L [<60 mg/dL]), or triglycerides (≥1.70 mmol/L [≥150 mg/dL]) during young adulthood. Coronary calcium prevalence 2 decades later was 8% in participants who maintained optimal LDL levels (<1.81 mmol/L [<70 mg/dL]), and 44% in participants with LDL cholesterol levels of 4.14 mmol/L (160 mg/dL) or greater (P < 0.001). The association was similar across race and sex and strongly graded, with odds ratios for coronary calcium of 1.5 (95% CI, 0.7 to 3.3) for LDL cholesterol levels of 1.81 to 2.56 mmol/L (70 to 99 mg/dL), 2.4 (CI, 1.1 to 5.3) for levels of 2.59 to 3.34 mmol/L (100 to 129 mg/dL), 3.3 (CI, 1.3 to 7.8) for levels of 3.37 to 4.12 mmol/L (130 to 159 mg/dL), and 5.6 (CI, 2.0 to 16) for levels of 4.14 mmol/L (160 mg/dL) or greater, compared with levels less than 1.81 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL), after adjustment for lipid exposure after age 35 years and other coronary risk factors. Both LDL and HDL cholesterol levels were independently associated with coronary calcium after participants who were receiving lipid-lowering medications or had clinically abnormal lipid levels were excluded.

Limitation: Coronary calcium, although a strong predictor of future coronary heart disease, is not a clinical outcome.

Conclusion: Nonoptimal levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol during young adulthood are independently associated with coronary atherosclerosis 2 decades later.

Primary Funding Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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Nonoptimal Lipids Commonly Present in Young Adults and Coronary Calcium Later in Life: The CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) Study — Ann Intern Med



CARDIOLOGÍA
El colesterol alto desde joven aumenta el riesgo de tener enfermedades cardíacas de adulto
JANO.es · 06 Agosto 2010 13:42

La Asociación Estadounidense del Corazón recomienda a la población mayor de 20 años controlar sus niveles de colesterol una vez cada cinco años.

Tener el colesterol alto a una edad relativamente joven aumenta el riesgo de tener enfermedades cardíacas y accidentes cerebrovasculares, según un estudio de la Universidad de California publicado en Annals of Internal Medicine.

Los expertos siguieron a un grupo de personas de 18 a 30 años durante dos décadas y hallaron que, a mayor nivel de colesterol a una edad relativamente joven, mayor era el riesgo futuro de sufrir estas enfermedades.

"Habitualmente no existe preocupación por el riesgo de enfermedad cardíaca hasta que una persona llega a la mediana edad porque es raro tener un ataque cardíaco en la juventud", ha explicado uno de los investigadores, el doctor Mark Pletcher.

Propensión a la enfermedad cardíaca
El equipo ha analizado datos de más de 3.200 jóvenes. Aquellos con niveles elevados de colesterol LDL en la juventud eran más propensos a desarrollar enfermedad cardíaca más adelante, sin importar la cantidad de colesterol en la adultez.

Pletcher ha indicado que los resultados "no implican que los jóvenes necesariamente tengan que tomar medicamentos para reducir su colesterol, pero sí que deberían asegurarse de ejercitar y cuidarse en las comidas". "La dieta y el ejercicio son más importantes que la medicación para reducir el colesterol en los adultos jóvenes", ha afirmado. La Asociación Estadounidense del Corazón recomienda, pues, que los mayores de 20 años controlen su colesterol una vez cada cinco años.


ANN INTERN MED, August 3, 2010; vol. 153 no. 3 137-146
http://www.annals.org/content/153/3/137.abstract

Annals of Internal Medicine
http://www.annals.org/

Asociación Estadounidense del Corazón
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

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