The clinical utility of lipid profile and positive troponin in predicting future cardiac events

Abstract

Objective To study the usefulness of traditional lipid profile levels in screening subjects who had developed chest pain due to cardiac event as indicated by a positive troponin I (TnI) test. Methods In this retrospective study data of the 740 patients presented to the emergency department with symptoms of cardiac ischemia that underwent both troponin and lipid profiles tests were compared with the lipid profiles of 411 normal healthy subjects (controls). The troponin was detected qualitatively when a specimen contains TnI above the 99th percentile (TnI >0.5 ng/mL). The total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoproteins (HDL), very low density lipoproteins (VLDL), and triacyl glycerol (TG) levels were also analyzed and low density lipoprotein level (LDL) was calculated using Friedewald's formula. Results Patients with chest pain and positive troponin test (with confirmed cardiac event) were found to have significantly elevated levels of TC, TG, LDL and significantly reduced HDL levels when compared to the patients who experienced only chest pain (negative troponin) and healthy controls. Conclusions Traditional lipid profile levels still can be used in screening populations to identify the subjects with high risk of developing cardiac event which is identified by highly sensitive and specific positive troponin test.