Recent publications on Residual Risk

Despite well controlled low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels on statin treatment, individuals with elevated triglycerides are at high residual risk, according to this report. In this study, adults with diabetes with LDL-C levels between 40 and 100 mg/dL and with established cardiovascular disease or at least one other cardiovascular risk factor were identified from the Kaiser Permanente database. Individuals were categorized by high (200-499 mg/dL, n=5,542) or normal (<150 mg/dL, n=22,411) triglycerides. The primary outcomes were non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), non-fatal stroke, unstable angina or coronary revascularization. When compared with individuals with normal triglycerides, those with high triglycerides had a 30% higher incidence of nonfatal MI (p=0.006), 23% higher rate of non-fatal stroke (p=0.037), 21% higher rate of coronary revascularization (p=0.027), and 33% higher rate of unstable angina, although this was not statistically significant (p=0.185). These findings provide further evidence linking elevated triglycerides with increased residual risk of cardiovascular events against a background of well controlled LDL-C levels.