Study Maps Heart Disease Marker Among Hispanic and Latino Individuals

News Brief

Study Maps Heart Disease Marker Among Hispanic and Latino Individuals

Study Maps Heart Disease Marker Among Hispanic and Latino Individuals
Body

Abnormally elevated blood levels of apolipoprotein B (apoB) are superior to high blood cholesterol for predicting an increased risk for heart disease and decreased life span. However, the association between increased apoB blood levels and risk for cardiovascular disease has not been well described among Latino and Hispanic populations. 

Leandro Slipczuk Bustamante, M.D., Ph.D., Carlos J. Rodriguez, M.D., M.P.H., and their colleagues have now conducted a nationwide study of apoB levels among more than 16,000 diverse Latino and Hispanic individuals with a mean age of 41. The results, published online on January 2 in JAMA Cardiology, revealed significant differences in apoB levels among people of different ethnic backgrounds. Older people had higher levels of apoB, and men generally had significantly higher average apoB levels than women. Of particular interest, a significant number of people who did not have high levels of LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) had high apoB levels, suggesting that apoB could be a useful marker for heart-disease risk, even if common markers such as LDL-C are not high. 

Dr. Slipczuk is an associate professor of medicine at Einstein, section head of clinical cardiology, and director of the Advanced Cardiac Imaging Program and the Cardiovascular Atherosclerosis and Lipid Disorder Center at Montefiore. Dr. Rodriguez is professor of medicine and of epidemiology & population health, the Eleazar & Feige Reicher Chair in Translational Medicine at Einstein, and director of clinical cardiology research and of cardiovascular epidemiology at Einstein and Montefiore.