[Various lipoprotein fractions and their relation to ischemic heart disease].

In a study carried out on over 700 patients with three different manifestations of aterosclerosis (cerebrovascular, coronary and peripheral), we could not find any statistically significant difference between the total cholesterol and triglyceride concentration in these three groups. Also, there was o difference in cholesterol and triglyceride levels between these three groups and 200 normal subjects. The same held true when we compared a selected group of 76 patients with ischaemic heart disease who had no other risk factor, with a group of 80 control subjects. On the contrary, when we compared several fractions of serum lipoproteins and the ratios of apolipoprotein A to Apolipoprotein B, LDL Cholesterol to HDL Cholesterol, and total Cholesterol to HDL Cholesterol of the two groups, the differences were statistically significant. We conclude that when other risk factors are excluded, the protein component, rather than the lipid component of the plasma lipoproteins correlates the presence of coronary artery disease.