Abstract

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is well-known risk factor for cardiacembolic events, especially cerebrovascular events. The association between AF and lipid markers was evaluated.Among all these markers, lipoprotein(a), or (Lp(a), was also investigated. The aim of our study was toevaluate the characteristics of the lipid profile in patients with AF, focusing on Lp(a) levels. Material/Methods:One hundred and one patients with AF were included in the study group. We used 101 patients without AF,matched by sex and age with the study group, as the control group. Total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteincholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, Lp(a), and the LDL/HDL, COL/LDL, andCOL/HDL indexes were measured. The study was performed in Spain with a Caucasian population. Results:Among all the variables included there was statistical difference only between groups in the COL/HDLindex, showing a greater value in the group of patients with AF. No difference was found in Lp(a) levelsbetween the groups. Conclusions: Although some studies have tried to show a possible relationship betweenAF and high Lp(a) levels, we found no such relationship in our study, although ethnic differences couldexplain, at least in part, these results in our patients when compared with other ethnic populations.

Keywords: European Continental Ancestry Group - genetics, Triglycerides - genetics, Risk Factors, Lipoproteins, LDL - genetics, Lipoprotein(a) - genetics, Lipids - genetics, Atrial Fibrillation, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Cholesterol, LDL - genetics, Cholesterol, HDL - genetics, Cholesterol - genetics, Case-Control Studies, Biological Markers - blood