Association between remnant cholesterol and arterial stiffness: A secondary analysis based on a cross-sectional study

Abstract

The relationship between conventional lipid parameters and arterial stiffness (AS) has been verified by previous studies. However, it remains unknown whether non-conventional lipid parameters have certain predictive effect on AS represented by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). Therefore, the study was to explore the relationship between remnant cholesterol (RC) and other non-conventional lipid parameters and AS in the general population free from cardiovascular disease. The study included 912 participants aged 24-84 years from a medical health checkup center of Murakami Memorial Hospital. Logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to examine the association between non-conventional lipid parameters and AS. The results showed that compared with non-AS group, the AS group had higher RC, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Non-HDL-C), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), lipoprotein combine index (LCI), atherosclerosis index (AI), triglycerides/HDL-C (TG/HDL-C), Castelli's risk index I (CRI-I) and Castelli's risk index II (CRI-II). Then, the authors divided participants into two groups by the optimal cutoff point of 23.6 of RC determined by Youden index. The baPWV was significantly higher in higher RC group compared with lower RC group, and RC was positively correlated with baPWV. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that, regarding lower RC as reference, higher RC was independently associated with higher risk of AS, independent of other risk factors (OR = 1.794, 95% CI: 1.267-2.539, p = .001). The area under the curve of AS predicted by RC was higher than that of other non-conventional lipid parameters (almost all p < .05). The findings indicated that increased RC was a significant predictor of AS.