Aim: Using a nationwide epidemiological database, we sought to examine whether there was a sex difference in the association between lipid profiles and subsequent cardiovascular disease (CVD) in young adults.
Methods: Medical records of 1,909,362 young adults (20-49 years old) without a prior history of CVD and not taking lipid-lowering medications were extracted. We conducted multivariable Cox regression analyses to identify the association between the number of abnormal lipid profiles and incident CVD.
Results: After a mean follow-up of 3.4±2.6 years, myocardial infarction (MI), angina pectoris (AP), stroke, and heart failure (HF) developed in 2,575 (0.1%), 26,006 (1.4%), 10,748 (0.6%), and 24,875 (1.3%) subjects, respectively. The incidence of MI, AP, and HF increased with the number of abnormal lipid profiles in both men and women, whereas the incidence of stroke increased with the number of abnormal lipid profiles only in men but not in women. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for MI per 1-point higher abnormal lipid profile were 1.57 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.49-1.65) in men and 1.25 (95% CI 1.07-1.47) in women. HRs for AP, stroke, and HF per 1-point higher abnormal lipid profile were 1.14 (95% CI 1.12-1.16), 1.06 (95% CI 1.02-1.09), and 1.10 (95% CI 1.08-1.12) in men and 1.18 (95% CI 1.13-1.23), 1.09 (95% CI 1.03-1.16), and 1.10 (95% CI 1.05-1.14) in women.
Conclusion: Our analysis demonstrated an association between the number of abnormal lipid profiles and incident CVD in both men and women. The association between the number of abnormal lipid profiles and incident MI was pronounced in men.
Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Epidemiology; Lipid profile; Preventive cardiology; Sex difference; Young adults.