title: Clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although of interest, few data exist on the clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with an extremely high triglyceride level (≥ 1000 mg/dL).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We assessed the clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with an extremely high triglyceride level.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated the presence of coronary artery disease, history of pancreatitis, the presence of fatty liver, and the potential causes of elevated triglyceride in Japanese subjects with an extremely high level of fasting triglyceride (≥ 1000 mg/dL) among 70,368 subjects whose serum triglyceride was measured for any reason at Kanazawa University Hospital from April 2004 to March 2014.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 215 (0.31%) subjects (mean age, 46 years; male, 170, mean body mass index, 25 kg/m(2)) with severe hypertriglyceridemia. Among them, 4 (1.9%) subjects were classified as type I, 97 (45.1%) subjects were type IV, and 114 (53.0%) subjects were type V hyperlipidemia, according to Fredrickson's classification. Among 215 subjects, 116 subjects (54.0%) drank alcohol, 58 (27.0%) showed heavy intake (≥ 60 g/d), and 64 (29.8%) subjects had diabetes. In total, 59 (27.4%) subjects had transient severe hypertriglyceridemia caused by corticosteroids (N = 19), antidepressant (N = 18), l-asparaginase and steroids for acute lymphoid leukemia (N = 15), hormone replacement therapy for breast cancer (N = 9), β-blocker (N = 5), hypothyroidism (N = 4), pregnancy (N = 4), and panhypopituitarism (N = 2). As many as 119 (55.3%) subjects exhibited fatty liver. Moreover, 12 (5.6%) and 17 (7.9%) subjects had a history of pancreatitis and coronary artery disease, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A variety of situations can cause severe hypertriglyceridemia. We suggest that potential secondary causes should be carefully assessed for such patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan. Electronic address: ht240z@sa3.so-net.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Hayato
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Masa-Aki
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kawashiri
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakahashi
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kunimasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chujo
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Azusa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohbatake
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kometani
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Department of Lipidology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nohara
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Science, Molecular Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Inazu
authors.affiliation: Department of Lipidology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mabuchi
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamagishi
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015228:Hypertriglyceridemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014280:Triglycerides
keywords: Coronary artery disease; Hypertriglyceridemia; Lipoprotein; Pancreatitis; Triglyceride