Evaluation of Lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)] as a Risk Factor for Coronary Artery Disease in the Turkish Population

Objective: Lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)] is an atherogenic particle that structur-ally resembles a low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particle but contains a molecule of apolipoprotein (a) attached to apolipoprotein B-100 by a disulfide bond. Because of the fact that elevated plasma levels of Lp (a) have been shown to be an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD), we determined plasma Lp (a) levels in CAD for Turkish population, and compared them with previous findings of some developed countries. Results: The mean plasma Lp (a) levels in CAD group (mean ± SD; 0.41 ± 0.21, g/L) was found approximately twofold higher than that of the control group (0.21 ± 0.17 g/L). Also, it was found to be higher than the mean levels of CAD group in the other populations described in previous reports. But CAD prevalence in the Turkish population is lower than in those of developed countries, especially the United States. Conclusions: We concluded that the interaction between plasma Lp (a) levels and many other factors such as face and heredity affecting development of CAD may show different effects for development of CAD in each of those populations separately.