Association of Apolipoprotein-A, B and Trans Fatty Acids with Cardiovascular Events: Isfahan Cohort Study

Various studies have shown that the risk of apolipoprotein-A (apo-A), B (apo-B), and trans fatty acids may be different for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in different populations. This study aimed to estimate the relative risk of apo-A, apo-B, and trans fatty acids for the occurrence of cardiovascular disease events in a cohort study.

A cohort study was performed on 5375 subjects aged ≥ 35 years old participating in the Isfahan Healthy Heart Program (IHHP) that had been recruited with multistage cluster random sampling method. Apo-A and apo-B were measured in all subjects while trans fatty acids were measured on a random sample of 238 subjects. The relative risk of these factors for CVD events was defined in a 6-year period. T-test was used to compare means. Logistic regression and Cox regression were used to calculate Hazard ratio of cardiovascular disease events.

After adjustment for age and sex, the relative risk for cardiovascular disease events was 2.393 (95%CI 1.155-4.961) for apo-B/A, 1.007 (95%CI 1.004-1.009) for total cholesterol, 1.002 (95%CI 1.001-1.003) for triglycerides, and 1.008 (95%CI 1.005-1.010) for LDL-cholesterol. After adjustment for smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, the relative risk for total cholesterol (1.006, 95%CI 1.003-1.008) and LDL-cholesterol 1.007, 95%CI 1.004-1.010) was significant while insignificant for trans fatty acids.

This study showed that relative risk of apo-B/A for cardiovascular disease events is similar to total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. However, after adjustment for other risk factors, the association remained significant only for total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. Trans fatty acids did not show significant risk for cardiovascular disease event.