Fatty Acids, Non-HDL Cholesterol Increases Stroke Risk

A new research by the University of California –Los Angeles has revealed that people with high triglycerides (fatty acids), and non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol have an increased risk of a certain type of stroke.

According to the researchers, high levels of triglycerides and the lipoprotein cholesterol, which is tested but not usually evaluated as part of a person’s risk assessment, increase the risk of atherosclerotic stroke, a type of ischemic stroke caused by a blockage of blood flow to the brain.

“LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol has been the primary target for reducing the risk of stroke, but these results show that other types of cholesterol may be more strongly linked with stroke risk,” said study author Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, of UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA, and member of the American Academy of Neurology.

For the study, researchers looked at the records of 1,049 people admitted to a university hospital with a stroke or mini-stroke over four years. Of those, 247 people had a large artery atherosclerotic stroke. People with this type of stroke have blockage in the large arteries leading to the brain.

It was found that people with high triglycerides and elevated ‘non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol’ were more likely to have a large artery atherosclerotic stroke than those with low levels of these fats in the blood.

People with the highest triglycerides were 2.7 times more likely to have this type of stroke than those with the lowest level. People with the greatest non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol, which is neither the “good” nor the ‘bad’ cholesterol, were 2.4 times more likely to have a large artery stroke.

“Because this type of cholesterol is included in the test that is normally ordered, and triglycerides are already reported, it would not be difficult to start paying closer attention to these factors in people at risk for large artery stroke,” Ovbiagele said.

Researchers found that those with high ‘bad’ cholesterol did not have an increased risk of this type of stroke.

Ovbiagele noted that it is still important to monitor bad cholesterol levels to reduce risk of heart disease and other types of stroke.

The research is published in the December 26, 2007, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Source-ANI
KAR/M