Abstract
Apolipoprotein H (apo H), also known as β2-glycoprotein I, has recently become of interest in the field of haemostasis. As apo H is elevated in diabetes mellitus and dyslipidaemia, we wished to test the hypothesis that serum apo H concentration was related to fasting plasma glucose and insulin as well as blood pressure, body mass index, hip/waist ratio and serum lipids in normal individuals.
Eighty-one healthy young individuals (46 females and 35 males) were studied. Their age was 20·7 ± 0·75 years. Serum apo H significantly correlated with fasting plasma glucose (r=0·24, P=0·03) and serum LDL cholesterol (r=0·30, P=0·006). In the females serum apo H significantly correlated with serum cholesterol concentration (r=0·30, P=0·04) and in males with serum HDL cholesterol concentration (r=0·35, P=0·04).
In multifactorial regression analysis for serum apo H and the other variables for the 81 subjects, only gender and fasting plasma glucose remained statistically significant in the model. Serum apo H concentrations would be expected to increase by 21.7mg/L for each single mmol/L increase in fasting plasma glucose (95% CI 2·3–41·2), P=0·029, and to increase by 17·0mg/L if the gender is male (95% CI 0·7–33·2), P=0·041.