title: Is triglyceride/HDL ratio a reliable screening test for assessment of atherosclerotic risk in patients with chronic inflammatory disease?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The term chronic inflammatory disease (CID) refers to a category of inflammatory diseases that includes Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). The incidence of adverse cardiovascular events is greater among patients with CID, though they may not have conventional atherosclerotic risk factors. Endothelial dysfunction is one of the underlying fundamental mechanisms that trigger development of atherosclerotic alterations in arteries, and flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) is a noninvasive method to determine endothelial dysfunction. Recent studies have shown a relationship between high triglyceride high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio and coronary atherosclerosis. Many studies have demonstrated that patients with CID have lower FMD values compared to healthy population, indicating endothelial dysfunction. However TG/HDL ratio and its relationship to FMD in patients with CID has not been investigated. The present study investigated whether TG/HDL ratio in CID patients differs from that of healthy population, and its relationship to FMD in patients with CID.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 58 patients with CID and a group of 58 healthy volunteer individuals were enrolled in the study. FMD measurements were taken with high resolution ultrasound (US), and TG/HDL ratios were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with CID had significantly higher TG/HDL-C ratio (2.5 [2.2-2.8] vs 2.3 [2.1-2.5]; p=0.03) and lower FMD values (5.2 [4.2-6.3] vs 6.7 [6.3-9.7]; p<0.001), compared to healthy group, and a negative correlation was found between FMD levels and TG/HDL ratio of the study population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher TG/HDL ratio and lower FMD values found in CID patients may reflect increased atherosclerotic risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nursen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Keles
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Feyza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aksu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gonul
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aciksari
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yusuf
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kenan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Demircioglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kostek
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Muhammed Esad
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cekin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Iskilip Atif Hoca State Hospital, Corum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Macit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalcik
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Goztepe Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caliskan
keywords: Chronic inflammatory disease; flow-mediated dilatation; triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol ratio