Remnant cholesterol is associated with cardiovascular mortality

Kerui Zhang; Xiangyun Qi; Fuyu Zhu; Quanbin Dong; Zhongshan Gou; Fang Wang; Li Xiao; Menghuan Li; Lianmin Chen; Yifeng Wang; Haifeng Zhang; Yanhui Sheng; Xiangqing Kong

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2022.984711

Remnant cholesterol is associated with cardiovascular mortality

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022 Sep 20:9:984711. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.984711. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Kerui Zhang¹, Xiangyun Qi¹, Fuyu Zhu¹, Quanbin Dong², Zhongshan Gou¹, Fang Wang¹, Li Xiao¹, Menghuan Li², Lianmin Chen^{2

3}, Yifeng Wang², Haifeng Zhang^{1

2}, Yanhui Sheng^{1

2}, Xiangqing Kong^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Cardiovascular Research Center, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Gusu School, Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, China.
² Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
³ Department of Genetics, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.

Abstract

Background: Genetic, observational, and clinical intervention studies indicate that circulating levels of remnant cholesterol (RC) are associated with cardiovascular diseases. However, the predictive value of RC for cardiovascular mortality in the general population remains unclear.

Methods: Our study population comprised 19,650 adults in the United States from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (1999-2014). RC was calculated from non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) minus low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) determined by the Sampson formula. Multivariate Cox regression, restricted cubic spline analysis, and subgroup analysis were applied to explore the relationship of RC with cardiovascular mortality.

Results: The mean age of the study cohort was 46.4 ± 19.2 years, and 48.7% of participants were male. During a median follow-up of 93 months, 382 (1.9%) cardiovascular deaths occurred. In a fully adjusted Cox regression model, log RC was significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 2.82; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17-6.81]. The restricted cubic spline curve indicated that log RC had a linear association with cardiovascular mortality (p for non-linearity = 0.899). People with higher LDL-C (≥130 mg/dL), higher RC [≥25.7/23.7 mg/dL in males/females corresponding to the LDL-C clinical cutoff point (130 mg/dL)] and abnormal HDL-C (<40/50 mg/dL in males/females) levels had a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality (HR 2.18; 95% CI 1.13-4.21 in males and HR 2.19; 95% CI 1.24-3.88 in females) than the reference group (lower LDL-C, lower RC and normal HDL-C levels).

Conclusions: Elevated RC levels were associated with cardiovascular mortality independent of traditional risk factors.

Keywords: NHANES; Sampson formula; cardiovascular mortality; correlational analysis; remnant cholesterol.