Correlates of Atherosclerosis in Coronary Arteries of Patients Undergoing Angiographic Evaluation

Abstract

The correlations between lipid and lipoprotein measurements and other risk factors of coronary artery disease were evaluated in 101 men undergoing coro nary angiography. Clinically significant disease was present in 75 patients, whereas 24 had no observable lesions and 2 had minimal lesions. Comparisons of individual lipid and lipoprotein levels were nearly all significantly different between patients with and patients without clinically significant disease; how ever, no single variable could predict the presence of disease among patients. Logistic regression analysis identified five factors: apolipoprotein A-I, apolipo protein B, diabetes, age, and family history of heart disease, which account for most of the differences between the two patient groups. These results could have important implications for the evaluation and management of patients sus pected of having coronary atherosclerosis.