[Evaluation of the cardiovascular risk associated with atherosclerosis: HDL-cholesterol or apoproteins? (author's transl)].

The antiatherogenic role of HDL-cholesterol is now well established and for some years plasma HDL-cholesterol measurements have been used in the biochemical evaluation of atherosclerosis. A positive correlation has been found between low HDL-cholesterol plasma levels and high risk of cardiovascular complications. More recently, studies of the proteinic component of lipoproteins, particularly apoprotein A 1 of HDL lipoproteins and apoprotein B of LDL and VLDL lipoproteins, have shown that measurement of apoproteins is of greater help to differentiate between normal subjects and patients with coronary artery disease, irrespective of age.