Serum Triglycerides and Non-High Density Cholesterol: Important Indicators for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment

This cross sectional study was carried out from September 2007 to December 2012 at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, The Indus Hospital, Karachi. Analysis of 2115 lipid profiles showed that 1389 (66%) patients had triglyceride levels above 1.7 mmol/l. Of these, 10.3% of the samples showed high non-HDL-C with normal LDL-C while 2.6% showed high LDL-C with normal non-HDL-C. NonHDL cholesterol is an important lipid profile parameter that could serve as an additional screening tool along with LDL-C for complete cardiac vascular risk profile assessment particularly in high risk patients. This together with TG/HDL ratio, an indicator of small dense LDL, could help clinicians in rigorous patient management. Therefore, it is recommended that non-HDL cholesterol be added as part of lipid profile parameter and TG/HDL ratio be recognized as a possible important indicator of cardiovascular risk.