Combined hyperlipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia in renal allograft recipients. Comparison with non-renal combined hyperlipidemic or hypertriglyceridemic patients and normal subjects.

In order to investigate the degree of similarity between renal transplant and non-renal combined hyperlipidemic and hypertriglyceridemic patients, serum and lipoprotein lipid compositions were compared in transplant and non-renal combined hyperlipidemic and in transplant and non-renal hypertriglyceridemic patients, and normal subjects. Although certain similarities were demonstrated, combined hyperlipidemia in transplants differed from that in non-renal patients in a number of respects: (1) LDL-triglyceride levels were increased to a greater extent in transplant than in non-renal patients in females, while LDL-phospholipid was elevated in male transplants only; (2) HDL-cholesterol levels were raised in transplants relative to non-renal patients in females, and relative to both non-renal patients and normal subjects in males; (3) a number of differences in lipoprotein-lipid ratios between transplant and non-renal patients were demonstrated for all three lipoprotein fractions. In hypertriglyceridemia, changes in lipoprotein-lipid levels were similar in transplant and non-renal patients with the exception of HDL-cholesterol levels, which were decreased in non-renal patients only. Furthermore, the ratio of esterified to free cholesterol in LDL and HDL was decreased in non-renal but not in transplant patients. The data presented demonstrate that, despite certain similarities, a number of the lipoprotein-lipid changes observed in transplant combined hyperlipidemia and in transplant hypertriglyceridemia differ from those observed in non-renal patients with similarly elevated serum lipids.