Nichols GA, et al. - In this longitudinal observational cohort study, researchers compared patients with high vs normal triglycerides (TGs) for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality risk. Findings from the present study suggested that, in high-risk statin-treated subjects with atherosclerotic CVD, CVD risk correlates with high TG levels.

Methods

• Participants in this longitudinal observational cohort study were patients aged ≥ 45 years whose TG level was either < 150 mg/dL (normal) or between 200 and 499 mg/dL (high) in 2010, were taking only statins, had LDL-C values 40 to 100 mg/dL, and had diagnosed CVD.
• Through December 2016, they followed these patients.
• A composite of nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, unstable angina, coronary revascularization, and all-cause mortality and a second composite adding peripheral revascularization and aneurysm repair were the primary outcomes.
• After that, they compared multivariable-adjusted incidence rates and rate ratios (RRs) of the outcomes and their components.

Results

• An aggregate of 14,481 subjects contained the normal TG group, and 2,702 subjects were in the high TG group.
• It was observed that multivariable-adjusted incidence of the second composite was 10% greater in the high TG group [50.9/1000 person-years, 95% CI 47.0 to 55.2 vs 46.5, 44.8 to 48.2, RR 1.10, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.20, P=0.041].
• Researchers found that the difference was driven by nonfatal MI (RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.45, P=0.045), coronary revascularization (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.40, P=0.045), and peripheral revascularization (RR 1.56, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.13, P=0.006).