An analysis of the risk factors for premature coronary artery disease in young and middle-age Chinese patients with hypertension.

BACKGROUND

Hypertension has become prevalent among young and middle-age individuals. Many studies have identified a variety of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, yet there have been few reports focusing on the young and middle-age hypertensive population.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of conventional risk factors of premature coronary artery disease (PCAD) in patients with hypertension.

METHODS

The clinical and laboratory data of 267 hypertensive patients with PCAD and 96 hypertensive patients without any visible coronary disease according to angiography were compared. Potential coronary risk factors were analyzed using logistic regression.

RESULTS

The PCAD group had lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic analysis showed positive family history, low HDL-C, hypertriglyceridemia, duration of diabetes mellitus and male sex were significantly associated with PCAD (P<0.05), with ORs of 12.317, 3.267, 2.894, 1.140 and 0.088, respectively. Plasma renin activities in PCAD patients were significantly higher than in control hypertensive patients (P=0.027), but there was no significant difference in angiotensin II and aldosterone levels between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

Low HDL-C and hypertriglyceridemia are important coronary risk factors in Chinese individuals with hypertension.