Comparative evaluation of LDL-CT, non-HDL/HDL ratio, and ApoB/ApoA1 in assessing CHD risk among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

BackgroundResearch proved the importance of dosing apolipoprotein B (ApoB) over LDL cholesterol as a predictor of cardiovascular events. In this study, we aimed to observe the input apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1) and ApoB, primarily if its ratio could provide in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) without known atherosclerotic events regarding the coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. MethodsWe enrolled 83 patients with T2DM who attended the National Institute of Diabetes (Bucharest) between March 2022 and December 2022. A blood sample was taken from all patients to measure the different lipid parameters, including ApoA1 and ApoB. Spearman's correlation test for correlation between variables was used, and a multivariate regression analysis was performed to determine whether there are associations between CHD and the ApoB/ApoA1 and non-HDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratios. Values of p < 0.05 were considered significant. ResultsCorrelation analyses revealed that LDL-C was moderately associated with CHD (r = 0.199, p = 0.067). The non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratio exhibited a stronger, significant correlation with CHD (r = 0.366, p = 0.001). Evaluating apolipoproteins, ApoA1 levels negatively correlated with CHD (r = −0.233, p = 0.035), whereas ApoB levels showed a positive association (r = 0.292, p = 0.008). Notably, the severity of CHD risk increased with the ApoB/ApoA1 ratio (r = 0.530, p < 0.001). Similar trends in correlation coefficients were observed for fatal CHD and ASCVD, albeit with varied significance levels. ConclusionsAmong patients with T2DM, the ApoB/ApoA1 ratio exhibited the strongest correlation with CHD risk, surpassing traditional LDL-C and even the non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratio, suggesting its potential utility as a more reliable marker for cardiovascular risk assessment in this population.