Plasma Lipids and Lipoproteins in Healthy Subjects are Closely Related to INR

Abstract number: P1187

Nielsen¹ MB, Bülow¹ R, Aardestrup¹ IV, Schmidt¹ EB, Christensen² JH

¹¹Department of Preventive Cardiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark ¹¹Department of Preventive Cardiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark ²²Department of Nephrology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark

Hypercholesterolemia may be related to an increased tendency to develop thrombosis. However, no data exists regarding the relation between INR (International Normalized Ratio) and lipids and lipoproteins in apparently healthy subjects. We therefore included 100 healthy subjects (without any medication) with INR levels within the reference range (0.9–1.2). Also, plasma lipids and lipoproteins in the fasting state were measured in each subject. Two analyses failed leaving 98 subjects for final analysis. The study comprised 46 women and 52 men with the following mean values (SD): Age 40 years (13), t-cholesterol 5.1 mmol/l (1.1), LDL-cholesterol 3.1 mmol/l (1.0), HDL-cholesterol 1.4 mmol/l (0.3), triglycerides 1.2 mmol/l (0.9), and INR 1.04 (0.07). Univariate correlation analysis between INR and the plasma lipids and lipoproteins revealed the following Spearman correlation coefficients: t-cholesterol -0.5 (P < 0.001), LDL-cholesterol -0.4 (P < 0.001), HDL-cholesterol 0.03 (ns), and triglycerides -0.4 (P < 0.001). Accordingly, the t-cholesterol level was 5.5 mmol/l in the lowest INR quartile compared to 4.2 mmol/l in the upper quartile (P < 0.001). In conclusion, INR is strongly negatively associated with t-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and plasma triglycerides in healthy subjects. This suggests that slightly elevated cholesterol levels in even healthy subjects might have an increased risk of thrombosis.