DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i03.012

Pages: 744-748

Abstract: Atherosclerotic Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) is a prototype of chronic systemic atherosclerosis, which is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in Indian population. Lipoprotein (a) is a genetically determined, cholesterol rich lipoprotein, high concentration of which has emerged as a prominent risk factor for the development and progression of atherosclerosis. This case control study undertaken in a tertiary care hospital aims to show the association and presumably a causative role of lipoprotein (a) in peripheral arterial disease in a south Indian population. In this study, serum lipid profile parameters like total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL, HDL and lipoprotein (a) were measured in 50 patients of atherosclerotic PAD and statistically compared with 50 age and sex matched healthy individuals using student’s t test and Chi square test. Mean serum lipoprotein (a) in cases was significantly higher (p<0.01) than that of controls. Similarly, mean serum total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL cholesterol were significantly higher in cases than in controls (p<0.01), with mean serum HDL being significantly lower in cases (p<0.01). There was a strong negative correlation between the levels of HDL and lipoprotein (a). These results show that elevated lipoprotein (a) is an independent risk factor for the development of atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease in the study population.