Increased serum level of Lp-PLA2 is independently associated with the severity of coronary artery diseases: a cross-sectional study of Chinese population

BACKGROUND: Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) plays complex and adverse roles on atherosclerosis. Current study was to investigate whether increased plasma Lp-PLA2 level is independently associated with the severity of coronary artery diseases (CAD). METHODS: Totally 781 participants were enrolled and performed coronary angiography (CAG) to figure out the number of coronary artery stenosis. According to clinical presentation, electrocardiography, cardiac biomarker, and CAG result, participants were divided into control (excluded CAD), stable angina (SA), unstable angina (UA) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) groups. Baseline characteristics were recorded. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between Lp-PLA2 level and CAD severity. RESULTS: Plasma levels of Lp-PLA2 in control, SA, UA and AMI groups were 7.38(3.33-9.26) μg/L, 5.94(2.89-8.55) μg/L, 8.56(5.34-11.95) μg/L and 8.68(5.56-13.27) μg/L respectively (P < 0.001). After adjusted for age, gender, smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), apoprotein A (apoA) and statins, Lp-PLA2 level was still independently associated with CAD severity, with odd ratio (OR) of 1.055 (AMI group versus control group, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.021-1.090, P < 0.05). Additionally, the relationship between Lp-PLA2 level and the number of stenosis coronary artery was also assessed. Lp-PLA2 levels in control, single-vessel, and multiple-vessels stenosis groups were 7.38(3.33-9.26) μg/L, 7.80 (4.05-10.76) μg/L and 8.29(5.18-11.76) μg/L respectively (P for trend < 0.001). After adjusted for age, gender, smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, LDL-C and HDL-C, apoA and statins, Lp-PLA2 level remained independently associated with the number of coronary artery stenosis, with OR of 1.053 (multiple-vessels stenosis group versus control group, 95% CI 1.025-1.069, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Increased Lp-PLA2 level is independently associated with CAD severity, and Lp-PLA2 level may be used to discriminate those who are at increased risk of cardiovascular events.