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Triglycerides and triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio are strong predictors of incident hypertension in Middle Eastern women

Abstract

Dyslipidemia has been reported as a risk factor for incident hypertension in a few prospective studies, however, no study has specifically assessed different lipid measures including the lipid ratios, that is, total cholesterol (TC)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides (TGs)/HDL-C as predictors of hypertension among Middle Eastern women with high prevalences of dyslipidemia and hypertension. The study population consisted of 2831 non-hypertensive women, aged 20 years. We measured lipoproteins, and calculated non-HDL-C and the lipid ratios. The risk-factor-adjusted odds ratios for incident hypertension were calculated for every 1 standard deviation (s.d.) change in TC, log-transformed TG, HDL-C, non-HDL-C, TC/HDL-C and log-transformed TG/HDL-C using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Over a mean follow-up of 6.4 years, 397 women developed hypertension. An increase of 1 s.d. in TG, TC/HDL-C and TG/HDL-C increased the risk of incident hypertension by 16, 19 and 18%, respectively, and 1 s.d. increase in HDL-C decreased the risk of hypertension by 14% in the multivariable model (all P0.05). In models excluding women with diabetes and central or general obesity, TG, TG/HDL-C and TC/HDL-C remained as independent predictors of incident hypertension. In conclusion, dyslipidemia, using serum TG and TG/HDL-C, in particular, may be useful in identification of women at risk of hypertension, even in those without diabetes and central or general obesity.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grant No. 121 from the National Research Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We express appreciation to the participants of district 13, Tehran, for their enthusiastic support in this study. We would like to thank Ms. N. Shiva for the English editing of manuscript.

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Tohidi, M., Hatami, M., Hadaegh, F. et al. Triglycerides and triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio are strong predictors of incident hypertension in Middle Eastern women. J Hum Hypertens 26, 525–532 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2011.70

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