Lipoprotein(a) in ischemic cerebrovascular disease: a new approach to the assessment of risk for stroke.

We estimated the serum levels of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] of 87 patients suffering from ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICVD) (50 men, 37 women; mean age, 66.7 +/- 10.9 years; median, 66) and of 66 healthy controls (33 men, 33 women; mean age, 62.2 +/- 11.1; median, 63). The Lp(a) serum levels of the ICVD group (mean, 20.5 +/- 23 mg/dl; median, 9.5) were significantly elevated compared with those of controls (mean, 14.2 +/- 23.1 mg/dl; median, 5). In a smaller subgroup, limiting the age range to 30 to 60 years, the difference in the Lp(a) serum levels between the ICVD patients and the controls was even highly significant (p less than 0.001).