Role of circulating high-density lipoprotein and triglycerides in coronary artery disease: risk and prevention.

A substantial body of evidence suggests that circulating levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and certain triglyceride-carrying lipoproteins may, like low-density lipoprotein (LDL), be important risk factors in the development of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD). Furthermore, both low HDL cholesterol and high triglyceride levels are frequently associated with other CAD risk factors, whose correction, often by hygienic means, may reduce CAD risk without fear of adverse side effects. However, the available evidence is not yet sufficiently coherent and compelling to justify guidelines (analogous to those for LDL cholesterol) for specific pharmacologic treatment of low plasma HDL cholesterol or moderately elevated plasma triglyceride levels to prevent CAD.