Low high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and acute coronary syndrome in young patients admitted at a tertiary care facility

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a cardiovascular disease which is related to mortality and morbidity among the Indians predominantly in the older age group. But, recently CAD has been found more often in young population. Hence, our study aims to observe the outcomes based on various categories of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels estimated during admission at the hospital and correlate the levels of HDL cholesterol with severity of CAD as measured by Gensini score. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 151 young patients (18-45 years) who were admitted at the hospital with newly diagnosed acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Tests such as electrocardiogram, cardiac enzyme assay, hematologic and biochemical tests including fasting lipid profile levels were taken into account. RESULTS: There was an inverse relation observed between the number of vessels involvedand HDL cholesterol levels. Those with lower levels of HDL cholesterol were more vulnerable to multi-vessel CAD. However, no association was observed between HDL cholesterol and severity of CAD as measured by Gensini score. CONCLUSION: In young patients with acute coronary syndrome and diminished HDL cholesterol levels had a greater number of vessels involved when compared with elevated HDL cholesterol levels group. However, low HDL cholesterol levels had no association with severity of CAD as measured by Gensini score. No statistically significant association was noticed between levels of HDL cholesterol and in hospital mortality /morbidity.