Usefulness of serum total cholesterol/triglyceride ratio for predicting the presence of small, dense LDL.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the usefulness of the serum total cholesterol (TC)/triglyceride (TG) and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C)/TG ratios for predicting the presence of small, dense LDL, by comparing them with the established indicators of small, dense LDL, such as the LDL-migration index (LDL-MI) and LDL-C/Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) ratio.


METHODS
Fasting serum lipid was analyzed in 99 Japanese hyperlipidemic and normolipidemic subjects (34 males and 65 females, 59.4 +/- 11.9 years old).


RESULTS
A good negative correlation was observed between LDL-MI and log (TC/TG) (R(2) = 0.473, p < 0.0001). There was a strong positive correlation between LDL-C/ApoB and log (TC/TG) (R(2) = 0.665, p < 0.0001). Similar results were obtained using LDL-C instead of TC. Using LDL-MI > 0.4 as an indicator of small, dense LDL, the upper limit of TG was estimated to be 140-142 mg/dl.


CONCLUSIONS
TC/TG and LDL-C/TG may offer a convenient and simple clinical tool for predicting the presence of small, dense LDL. Particularly, TC/TG could be an easy-to-use indicator of small, dense LDL for general practitioners.
Yoshida
Akihiro
A
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Nakatsugawa Municipal Hospital, Gifu, Japan.
Kouwaki
Masaaki
M
Matsutani
Yasuko
Y
Fukuchi
Yoshiko
Y
Naito
Michitaka
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL; D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol