Two parameters reflect lipid-driven inflammatory state in acute coronary syndrome: atherogenic index of plasma, neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis is a systemic, lipid-driven immune-inflammatory disease. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed institutional electronic medical records to seek chest pain patients who were suspicious of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) between January 2011 and December 2013. All the patients were identified by undergoing coronary angiography. On admission white blood cell and its subtypes were measured as part of the automated complete blood count and fasting venous blood samples were obtained and analyzed for lipids profiles used automated analysis. RESULTS A total of 376 consecutive patients with ACS were investigated. In the same period, 378 patients admitted with chest pain suspicious of ACS were also included in this study for control. Blood glucose, serum creatinine, white blood cell, neutrophil and monocyte were insignificantly higher in the ACS group. ACS group had higher total cholesterol and lower high density lipid-cholesterol. However, triglyceride and low density lipid-cholesterol were similar between ACS and control groups. Atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) was significantly higher in ACS group compared to control group (p = 0.029). Similarly, ACS group had higher neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) than those in control group. In the subgroups, the NLR were significantly higher in the STEMI group (p < 0.001). However, AIP were similar between the three subgroups (p = 0.748). CONCLUSIONS Our data firstly investigated the lipid-driven inflammatory state in acute coronary syndrome through two easily feasible parameters. There suggest that there are higher AIP and NLR in the ACS patients. Moreover, ACS subgroups are all lipid-driven states, but inflammation levels are different in the entity ACS subgroups.