@article {1116, title = {Lipoprotein(a) concentration and the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and nonvascular mortality.}, journal = {JAMA}, volume = {302}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Jul 22}, pages = {412-23}, abstract = {

CONTEXT: Circulating concentration of lipoprotein(a) (Lp[a]), a large glycoprotein attached to a low-density lipoprotein-like particle, may be associated with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship of Lp(a) concentration with risk of major vascular and nonvascular outcomes.

STUDY SELECTION: Long-term prospective studies that recorded Lp(a) concentration and subsequent major vascular morbidity and/or cause-specific mortality published between January 1970 and March 2009 were identified through electronic searches of MEDLINE and other databases, manual searches of reference lists, and discussion with collaborators.

DATA EXTRACTION: Individual records were provided for each of 126,634 participants in 36 prospective studies. During 1.3 million person-years of follow-up, 22,076 first-ever fatal or nonfatal vascular disease outcomes or nonvascular deaths were recorded, including 9336 CHD outcomes, 1903 ischemic strokes, 338 hemorrhagic strokes, 751 unclassified strokes, 1091 other vascular deaths, 8114 nonvascular deaths, and 242 deaths of unknown cause. Within-study regression analyses were adjusted for within-person variation and combined using meta-analysis. Analyses excluded participants with known preexisting CHD or stroke at baseline.

DATA SYNTHESIS: Lipoprotein(a) concentration was weakly correlated with several conventional vascular risk factors and it was highly consistent within individuals over several years. Associations of Lp(a) with CHD risk were broadly continuous in shape. In the 24 cohort studies, the rates of CHD in the top and bottom thirds of baseline Lp(a) distributions, respectively, were 5.6 (95\% confidence interval [CI], 5.4-5.9) per 1000 person-years and 4.4 (95\% CI, 4.2-4.6) per 1000 person-years. The risk ratio for CHD, adjusted for age and sex only, was 1.16 (95\% CI, 1.11-1.22) per 3.5-fold higher usual Lp(a) concentration (ie, per 1 SD), and it was 1.13 (95\% CI, 1.09-1.18) following further adjustment for lipids and other conventional risk factors. The corresponding adjusted risk ratios were 1.10 (95\% CI, 1.02-1.18) for ischemic stroke, 1.01 (95\% CI, 0.98-1.05) for the aggregate of nonvascular mortality, 1.00 (95\% CI, 0.97-1.04) for cancer deaths, and 1.00 (95\% CI, 0.95-1.06) for nonvascular deaths other than cancer.

CONCLUSION: Under a wide range of circumstances, there are continuous, independent, and modest associations of Lp(a) concentration with risk of CHD and stroke that appear exclusive to vascular outcomes.

}, keywords = {Cause of Death, Coronary Disease, Humans, Lipoprotein(a), Risk Factors, Stroke}, issn = {1538-3598}, doi = {10.1001/jama.2009.1063}, author = {Erqou, Sebhat and Kaptoge, Stephen and Perry, Philip L and Di Angelantonio, Emanuele and Thompson, Alexander and White, Ian R and Marcovina, Santica M and Collins, Rory and Thompson, Simon G and Danesh, John} } @article {583, title = {Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) and risk of coronary disease, stroke, and mortality: collaborative analysis of 32 prospective studies.}, journal = {Lancet}, volume = {375}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 May 01}, pages = {1536-44}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) (Lp-PLA(2)), an inflammatory enzyme expressed in atherosclerotic plaques, is a therapeutic target being assessed in trials of vascular disease prevention. We investigated associations of circulating Lp-PLA(2) mass and activity with risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and mortality under different circumstances.

METHODS: With use of individual records from 79 036 participants in 32 prospective studies (yielding 17 722 incident fatal or non-fatal outcomes during 474 976 person-years at risk), we did a meta-analysis of within-study regressions to calculate risk ratios (RRs) per 1 SD higher value of Lp-PLA(2) or other risk factor. The primary outcome was coronary heart disease.

FINDINGS: Lp-PLA(2) activity and mass were associated with each other (r=0.51, 95\% CI 0.47-0.56) and proatherogenic lipids. We noted roughly log-linear associations of Lp-PLA(2) activity and mass with risk of coronary heart disease and vascular death. RRs, adjusted for conventional risk factors, were: 1.10 (95\% CI 1.05-1.16) with Lp-PLA(2) activity and 1.11 (1.07-1.16) with Lp-PLA(2) mass for coronary heart disease; 1.08 (0.97-1.20) and 1.14 (1.02-1.27) for ischaemic stroke; 1.16 (1.09-1.24) and 1.13 (1.05-1.22) for vascular mortality; and 1.10 (1.04-1.17) and 1.10 (1.03-1.18) for non-vascular mortality, respectively. RRs with Lp-PLA(2) did not differ significantly in people with and without initial stable vascular disease, apart from for vascular death with Lp-PLA(2) mass. Adjusted RRs for coronary heart disease were 1.10 (1.02-1.18) with non-HDL cholesterol and 1.10 (1.00-1.21) with systolic blood pressure.

INTERPRETATION: Lp-PLA(2) activity and mass each show continuous associations with risk of coronary heart disease, similar in magnitude to that with non-HDL cholesterol or systolic blood pressure in this population. Associations of Lp-PLA(2) mass and activity are not exclusive to vascular outcomes, and the vascular associations depend at least partly on lipids.

FUNDING: UK Medical Research Council, GlaxoSmithKline, and British Heart Foundation.

}, keywords = {1-Alkyl-2-acetylglycerophosphocholine Esterase, Blood Pressure, Coronary Disease, Female, Humans, Linear Models, Lipids, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Risk Assessment, Risk Factors, Stroke, Systole}, issn = {1474-547X}, doi = {10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60319-4}, author = {Thompson, Alexander and Gao, Pei and Orfei, Lia and Watson, Sarah and Di Angelantonio, Emanuele and Kaptoge, Stephen and Ballantyne, Christie and Cannon, Christopher P and Criqui, Michael and Cushman, Mary and Hofman, Albert and Packard, Chris and Thompson, Simon G and Collins, Rory and Danesh, John} } @article {1399, title = {Lipid-related markers and cardiovascular disease prediction.}, journal = {JAMA}, volume = {307}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Jun 20}, pages = {2499-506}, abstract = {

CONTEXT: The value of assessing various emerging lipid-related markers for prediction of first cardiovascular events is debated.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether adding information on apolipoprotein B and apolipoprotein A-I, lipoprotein(a), or lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 to total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) improves cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk prediction.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Individual records were available for 165,544 participants without baseline CVD in 37 prospective cohorts (calendar years of recruitment: 1968-2007) with up to 15,126 incident fatal or nonfatal CVD outcomes (10,132 CHD and 4994 stroke outcomes) during a median follow-up of 10.4 years (interquartile range, 7.6-14 years).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Discrimination of CVD outcomes and reclassification of participants across predicted 10-year risk categories of low (<10\%), intermediate (10\%-<20\%), and high (>=20\%) risk.

RESULTS: The addition of information on various lipid-related markers to total cholesterol, HDL-C, and other conventional risk factors yielded improvement in the model{\textquoteright}s discrimination: C-index change, 0.0006 (95\% CI, 0.0002-0.0009) for the combination of apolipoprotein B and A-I; 0.0016 (95\% CI, 0.0009-0.0023) for lipoprotein(a); and 0.0018 (95\% CI, 0.0010-0.0026) for lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 mass. Net reclassification improvements were less than 1\% with the addition of each of these markers to risk scores containing conventional risk factors. We estimated that for 100,000 adults aged 40 years or older, 15,436 would be initially classified at intermediate risk using conventional risk factors alone. Additional testing with a combination of apolipoprotein B and A-I would reclassify 1.1\%; lipoprotein(a), 4.1\%; and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 mass, 2.7\% of people to a 20\% or higher predicted CVD risk category and, therefore, in need of statin treatment under Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines.

CONCLUSION: In a study of individuals without known CVD, the addition of information on the combination of apolipoprotein B and A-I, lipoprotein(a), or lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 mass to risk scores containing total cholesterol and HDL-C led to slight improvement in CVD prediction.

}, keywords = {Aged, Biomarkers, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cholesterol, HDL, Cohort Studies, Female, Humans, Lipoproteins, Male, Middle Aged, Risk Assessment}, issn = {1538-3598}, doi = {10.1001/jama.2012.6571}, author = {Di Angelantonio, Emanuele and Gao, Pei and Pennells, Lisa and Kaptoge, Stephen and Caslake, Muriel and Thompson, Alexander and Butterworth, Adam S and Sarwar, Nadeem and Wormser, David and Saleheen, Danish and Ballantyne, Christie M and Psaty, Bruce M and Sundstr{\"o}m, Johan and Ridker, Paul M and Nagel, Dorothea and Gillum, Richard F and Ford, Ian and Ducimetiere, Pierre and Kiechl, Stefan and Koenig, Wolfgang and Dullaart, Robin P F and Assmann, Gerd and D{\textquoteright}Agostino, Ralph B and Dagenais, Gilles R and Cooper, Jackie A and Kromhout, Daan and Onat, Altan and Tipping, Robert W and G{\'o}mez-de-la-C{\'a}mara, Agust{\'\i}n and Rosengren, Annika and Sutherland, Susan E and Gallacher, John and Fowkes, F Gerry R and Casiglia, Edoardo and Hofman, Albert and Salomaa, Veikko and Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth and Clarke, Robert and Brunner, Eric and Jukema, J Wouter and Simons, Leon A and Sandhu, Manjinder and Wareham, Nicholas J and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Kauhanen, Jussi and Salonen, Jukka T and Howard, William J and Nordestgaard, B{\o}rge G and Wood, Angela M and Thompson, Simon G and Boekholdt, S Matthijs and Sattar, Naveed and Packard, Chris and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Danesh, John} }