Serum lipoproteins in preclinical and in manifest ischemic heart disease

Abstract

1. 1. Of 115 middle-aged, white, male office workers, 76 were considered clinically free of ischemic heart disease, although 27 were obese, hypertensive, diabetic, or had a strong family history of heart disease. Of the remaining 48 men, 28 had survived a myocardial infarction and 20 had only angina pectoris. 2. 2. The survivors of myocardial infarction as a group showed significant increases in the lipoprotein-cholesterol and -phospholipid which were accounted for by increases in the β-lipoprotein fractions; there were also significant increases in the -S 1.21 flotation fractions above -S 1.211–10. The wide overlap of values in all groups nullified the individual diagnostic value of the measurements. 3. 3. The presently available techniques for measuring the blood lipoproteins are neither qualitatively nor quantitatively satisfactory indices of atherogenicity in a homogeneous population highly susceptible to ischemic heart disease.