CLINICAL STUDIES
Lack of association of lipoprotein(a) levels with coronary calcium deposits in asymptomatic postmenopausal women
Masami Nishino, MD*  ,1,
Mary J. Malloy, MD,
Josefina Naya-Vigne, MD,
Julie Russell, RN* ,
John P. Kane, MD, PhD and
Rita F. Redberg, MD, MSc, FACC*
* Division of Cardiology, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
Manuscript received April 16, 1999;
revised manuscript received September 14, 1999,
accepted October 21, 1999.
OBJECTIVES
This study sought to determine the relationship of lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) and other cardiac risk factors to coronary atherosclerosis as measured by calcification of coronary arteries in asymptomatic postmenopausal women.
BACKGROUND
Lipoprotein(a) is considered a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Coronary calcium deposition is believed to be a useful noninvasive marker of coronary atherosclerosis in women. However, to our knowledge, there are no reports of the relationship of Lp(a) to coronary calcium in postmenopausal women.
METHODS
In 178 asymptomatic postmenopausal women (64 ± 8 years), we measured Lp(a) and other cardiac risk factors: age, hypertension, diabetes, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking status, body mass index, physical activity level and duration of hormone replacement therapy. Electron-beam computed tomography was done to measure coronary calcium (calcium score). We analyzed the relationship between calcium score and cardiac risk factors using multivariate analysis.
RESULTS
Although calcium score correlated with traditional risk factors of age, diabetes, hypertension and smoking, it did not correlate with Lp(a) in the asymptomatic postmenopausal women. Similar multivariate analyses were done in the subjects age >60 years and in the subjects with significant coronary calcium deposit (calcium score  50). These analyses also have failed to show an association of levels of Lp(a) with coronary calcium deposits.
CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that in asymptomatic postmenopausal women, Lp(a) levels do not correlate with coronary atherosclerosis as measured by coronary calcium deposits.
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
| | CHD | = coronary heart disease | | EBCT | = electron beam computed tomography | | HDL | = high-density lipoprotein | | HU | = Hounsfield Units | | LDL | = low-density lipoprotein | | Lp(a) | = lipoprotein(a) | | Mets | = metabolic equivalents | | UCSF | = University of California, San Francisco |
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