USEFULNESS OF THE TOTAL CHOLESTEROL TO HIGH-DENSITY-LIPOPROTEIN CHOLESTEROL RATIO IN PREDICTING ANGIOGRAPHIC CORONARY-ARTERY DISEASE IN WOMEN

To investigate the relation between lipids and angiographic coronary artery disease (CAD) in women, fasting liquid profiles were obtained on 108 women undergoing coronary angiography (group I). CAD, defined as greater-than-or-equal-to 25% luminal diameter narrowing in a major coronary artery, was present in 57 (53%). Neither serum total cholesterol nor triglyceride levels correlated with the presence of CAD. Mean total/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio was higher among women with than without CAD (5.5 +/- 0.3 vs 4.2 +/- 0.2, p < 0.0001). Multiple regression analyses identified a higher total/HDL cholesterol ratio as the variable most predictive of the presence (p < 0.001), extent (number of narrowed arteries) (p < 0.0001), and severity (% maximum stenosis) (p < 0.001) of CAD. Age and lack of estrogen use were also independently associated with the presence of CAD, age and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level were additional indicators of extent, and age was the only other discriminator of severity of CAD. In 56 women with total cholesterol < 200 mg/dl (group II), mean total/HDL cholesterol ratio was higher in women with (n = 24) than without CAD (4.3 +/- 0.2 vs 3.5 +/- 0.2, p = 0.01). Higher total/HDL cholesterol ratio was the variable most predictive of the presence of CAD (p = 0.01), and the lone variable associated with severity (p < 0.001) after adjustment for other risk factors. Age was independently aged associated with presence and extent, and hypertension was also independently related to extent. Thus, among these woman, total/HDL cholesterol ratio is the best predictor of the presence, severity and extent of CAD in general, and is the best predictor of presence and severity in patients with total cholesterol < 200 mg/dl.