Data demonstrate relationship between (LDL-P) number and future risk of heart disease

LipoScience, Inc., has announced the results of research showing that low-density lipoprotein particle (LDL-P) number can predict cardiovascular events independently of LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations in a real-world environment, as presented in a poster session at the 2013 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Peter P. Toth, MD, PhD, and colleagues presented data demonstrating that LDL-P correlates positively with future risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in a sample of commercially insured patients.

“Although numerous epidemiological studies have demonstrated that LDL-P by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a better predictor of cardiovascular events than LDL cholesterol concentrations, there was no real-world evidence of this association,” says Dr. Toth. “Our data demonstrate such a correlation in a real-world population of high-risk patients.”

Dr. Toth and colleagues analyzed data from 15,569 high-risk patients selected from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database (HIRD), a fully-integrated longitudinal claims research environment that combines medical, pharmacy and laboratory information drawn from nearly 43 million enrollees in Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans and affiliated businesses across 14 states. Each patient had at least one LDL-P measurement determined using LipoScience's NMR LipoProfile test, which utilizes NMR spectroscopy to measure lipoprotein particle concentrations.

Among these patients, there was significant disagreement or discordance between LDL-C and LDL-P measures. More than 50% of high-risk patients had LDL-C levels at goal (< 100 mg/dL) whereas only 15% had comparably low LDL-P levels (< 1000 nmol/L). The risk of a future cardiovascular event was found to increase by approximately 4% for each 100 nmol/L increase in LDL-P levels. Visit LipoScience for the study.