Cholesterol values are poor markers of disease risk in a chronic disease population

Abstract

Aim: Studies have demonstrated reverse epidemiology for various serum lipid values among maintenance hemodialysis patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the end-stage renal disease population for reverse epidemiology, particularly in the way lipid levels relate to serum albumin concentration. Materials and methods: Lipid profiles and albumin levels were collected from end-stage renal disease patients (n = 117) who were undergoing chronic hemodialysis. Patients were placed in an albumin group (>3.8 g/dl) or a hypoalbumin group (<3.8 g/dl). A stepwise linear-regression model utilized albumin levels in g/dl as the outcome variable and tested the significance of additional covariates. Results: Large LDL-C loaded first (p = 0.0001) followed by LDL-C (p = 0.0001) and LDL-C particle size (p = 0.002). ANOVA revealed significant differences in LDL-C levels (p = 0.001), large LDL-C (p = 0.0001), LDL-C particle size (p = 0.038) and HDL-C (p = 0.045). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that, when compared with serum albumin levels, a reverse epidemiology effect existed for LDL-C, large LDL-C, LDL-C particle size and HDL-C.

Keywords:

• albumin
• end-stage renal disease
• HDL-C
• LDL-C
• LDL.C concentration
• reverse epidemiology