Diabetes News
Researchers Confirm New Risk Factor for Heart Disease
February 21, 2005 - (The George Insititute for International Health) — After years of uncertainty in the medical community, researchers at The George Institute for International Health at The University of Sydney have produced convincing evidence that high triglyceride levels significantly increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, independent of other risk factors.
Until now, the question of whether triglycerides were an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease has not been reliably answered. However, in the largest every study focusing on this issue, researchers have found that people with the highest triglyceride levels are 80% more likely to suffer a heart attack and 50% more likely to suffer a stroke than those with lowest levels. The results from the study have just been published in the journal, Circulation.
Triglycerides are common types of fats that exist in food as well as in the body. They are also present in the blood and, in association with cholesterol, form the blood plasma lipids. Triglycerides in the blood are derived from fats eaten in foods or made in the body from other energy sources like carbohydrates.
Dr Anushka Patel, Deputy Director of the Heart and Vascular Division at The George Institute said the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration or APCSC study has provided important new information about a question that has troubled cardiovascular researchers for years.
“To date, doctors have relied on risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, smoking and diabetes to determine the level of a patient's risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke and we've never been able to reliably determine if triglyceride levels could also be used as a marker for these conditions,” said Dr Patel.
“Results from the APCSC study have given us a new factor to consider and, while other risk factors such as cholesterol and blood pressure remain important, the results may help doctors better identify patients who are at risk of cardiovascular disease and maybe even lead to new treatments to lower the risk."
The Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration (APCSC) has investigated the cardiovascular effects of a number of potential risk factors in what is the largest study of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region. The research combines data from 659,000 participants in 46 studies and nine countries to draw its conclusions.
The study, conducted by medical researchers from China, South East Asia and Australasia, has provided important new evidence about the effects of the rapidly increasing rates of smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, particularly in urban areas in many of these countries.
About APCSC
The new APCSC data are the result of the first large-scale medical study ever conducted in the Asia Pacific region.
Representing five years' ongoing collaboration between leading cardiologists around the region, the collaborative project brings together data from 659,000 participants involved in 46 studies across nine countries, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia.
The consequences of cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure and smoking were investigated, as risk factors and indicators of CVD rates in the next few decades.
The collaboration's primary goal is to provide direct, reliable evidence about the determinants of stroke, coronary heart disease, and other common causes of death in Asia-Pacific populations, and aims to produce region-, age- and gender-specific estimates of CVD risks associated with blood pressure, blood lipids, diabetes and other risk factors.
Project partners include principal and co-principal investigators of contributing studies, The George Institute for International Health, University of Sydney and the Clinical Trials Research Unit at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. The APCSC study was made possible by an unrestricted grant from Pfizer Corporation and funding from Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council.