High Non-Fasting Blood Triglyceride Level is Associated with Heart Attack and Death, Especially in Women

July 17, 2007

Today, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published two research studies showing that
the level of blood triglycerides hours after a meal is a good predictor of the risk of heart disease.  Triglyceride is
a common fat that is present in our meals.

Both reports found that people with high non-fasting triglyceride level, for example a few hours after a meal,
have a higher risk in suffering from cardiovascular disease such as heart attack, and even death.

One of these studies1 is led by Dr. Paul Ridker of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard
Medical School.  Their group had monitored the fasting and non-fasting triglyceride level of 26,509 initially
healthy US women for a median of 11.4 years. They found that women with high non-fasting triglyceride level 2
to 4 hours after a meal had a significantly higher risk in suffering from cardiovascular disease.  In comparison,
the level of triglycerides after fasting, the way triglycerides is typically measured, is not a good predictor of
cardiovascular disease.

Another study2 of 7587 women and 6394 men by Nordestgaard and colleagues of Herlev and Copenhagen in
Denmark showed that both female and male with non-fasting triglycerides higher than 5 mmol/L (>442.5
mg/dL) had increased risk in having cardiovascular disease, and particularly so in women.

The results reported in this pair of studies indicate that the lowering of the level of non-fasting triglyceride level
in patients may be a promising strategy for preventing cardiovascular disease.  


References
1Bansal S, Buring JE, Rifai N, Mora S, Sacks FM, and Ridker PM. Fasting compared with nonfasting
triglycerides and risk of cardiovascular events in women. JAMA 2007; 298:309-316.

2Nordestgaard BG, Benn M, Schnodr P, Tybjaerg-Hansen Anne. Nonfasting triglycerides and risk of myocardial
infarction, ischemic heart disease, and death in men and women. JAMA 2007; 298:299-308.
July 17, 2007
Cardiovascularweb