Lipid relation ships in dialysis and renal transplant patients.

The relationship of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-CHOL) to other lipid fractions and the factos influencing post-transplant hyperlipidaemia have been explored in 28 chronic haemodialysis patients and 20 stable renal allograft recipients. In both groups of patients mean triglyceride (TG) and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol VLDL-CHOL) were elevated, but total CHOL and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-CHOL) were elevated only in transplanted patients. HDL-CHOL was uniformly low in dialysis patients irrespective of TG, whereas after transplantation mean HDL-CHOL was normal and varied inversely with TG and VLDL-CHOL. Serum creatinine correlated with TG and VLDL-CHOL in transplant patients, and was inversely related to HDL-CHOL. No factors correlated with CHOL or LDL-CHOL in transplant patients, but these lipids were only moderately elevated. Hyperlipidaemia in dialysis and transplant patients is not invariable; its importance for atherogenesis remains to be determined.