Prognostic Value and Relative Cutoffs of Triglycerides Predicting Cardiovascular Outcome in a Large Regional‐Based Italian Database
Valérie Tikhonoff, Edoardo Casiglia, Agostino Virdis, Guıdo Grassı, Fabio Angeli, Marcello Arca, Carlo M. Barbagallo, Michele Bombelli, Federica Cappelli, Rosario Cianci, Arrigo F.G. Cicero, Massimo Círillo, Pietro Cirillo, Raffaella Dell’Oro, Lanfranco D’Elia, Giovambattista Desideri, Claudio Ferri, Ferruccio Galletti, Loreto Gesualdo, Cristina Giannattasio, Guido Iaccarino, Francesca Mallamaci, Alessandro Maloberti, Stefano Masi, Maria Masulli, Alberto Mazza, Alessandro Mengozzi, María Lorenza Muiesan, Pietro Nazzaro, Paolo Palatini, Gianfranco Parati, Roberto Pontremoli, Fosca Quarti‐Trevano, Marcello Rattazzi, Gianpaolo Reboldi, Giulia Rivasi, Elisa Russo, Massimo Salvetti, Pier Luigi Temporelli, Giuliano Tocci, Andrea Ungar, Paolo Verdecchia, Francesca Viazzi, Massimo Volpe, Claudio Borghi
Abstract
Background Despite longstanding epidemiologic data on the association between increased serum triglycerides and cardiovascular events, the exact level at which risk begins to rise is unclear. The Working Group on Uric Acid and Cardiovascular Risk of the Italian Society of Hypertension has conceived a protocol aimed at searching for the prognostic cutoff value of triglycerides in predicting cardiovascular events in a large regional‐based Italian cohort. Methods and Results Among 14 189 subjects aged 18 to 95 years followed‐up for 11.2 (5.3–13.2) years, the prognostic cutoff value of triglycerides, able to discriminate combined cardiovascular events, was identified by means of receiver operating characteristic curve. The conventional (150 mg/dL) and the prognostic cutoff values of triglycerides were used as independent predictors in separate multivariable Cox regression models adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, total and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, serum uric acid, arterial hypertension, diabetes, chronic renal disease, smoking habit, and use of antihypertensive and lipid‐lowering drugs. During 139 375 person‐years of follow‐up, 1601 participants experienced cardiovascular events. Receiver operating characteristic curve showed that 89 mg/dL (95% CI, 75.8–103.3, sensitivity 76.6, specificity 34.1, P <0.0001) was the prognostic cutoff value for cardiovascular events. Both cutoff values of triglycerides, the conventional and the newly identified, were accepted as multivariate predictors in separate Cox analyses, the hazard ratios being 1.211 (95% CI, 1.063–1.378, P =0.004) and 1.150 (95% CI, 1.021–1.295, P =0.02), respectively. Conclusions Lower (89 mg/dL) than conventional (150 mg/dL) prognostic cutoff value of triglycerides for cardiovascular events does exist and is associated with increased cardiovascular risk in an Italian cohort.