PLASMA LIPIDS AND C-REACTIVE PROTEIN IN HYPERTENSIVES

Abstract

Hypertension and hyperlipidaemia are potent cardiovascular disease (CVD)
risk factors that coexist in some patients. These two factors act in synergism to
cause atherosclerosis in susceptible hypertensives. Also, increased levels of C
reactive protein in hypertensives is said to be important in identifying subjects that
are at high risk of future coronary events. The essence of this work was to
determine the levels of plasma lipids and serum C-reactive protein in
hypertensives.
The mean ages of the subjects were 46.8 years + 8.2 for the hypertensives
and 38.8 years + 13.2 for the controls. Most of the hypertensives were between the
ages of 40-59 years. The hypertensive subjects had significantly higher levels of
plasma TC (4.67 mmol/L+ 1.26 for hypertensives and 3.69mmol|L + 0.67 ), Tg
(1.65 mmol/L+ 0.67 for hypertensives and 1.40 mmol/L+ 0.43 for controls), LDL-C
(2.61 mmol/L+ 0.96 for hypertensives and 1.79 mmol/L+ 0.81 for controls),
Atherogenic index (2.28 + 1.28 for hypertensives and 1.55+ 0.70 for controls),
means atherogenic index (3.93+ 1.52 for hypertensives and 3.11+ 0.72 for
controls), BMI (28.34kg/m2+4.40 for hypertensives and 25.79kg/m2+2.91 for
controls) and CRP (0.18mgIdl+0.10 for hypertensives and 0.08mgldl+0.04 for
controls). Plasma HDL-C level was higher in the hypertensives (1.31 mmol/L+
0.51) than in controls (1.22 mmol/L+ 0.27) but the difference is not statistically
significant. The coronary heart disease risk ratio (CHD risk ratio) was significantly
less in the hypertensives (0.28+0.09) than in the control subjects (0.34+0.09).
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Mean BMI was significantly elevated in female hypertensives (29.29kg/m2+4.79)
compared to the male hypertensives (27.24kg/m2+3.62) P<0.05. Also, the mean
plasma HDL-C value was higher in the female hypertensives (1.38 mmol/L+ 0.53)
than in the male hypertensives (1.23mmollL+0.48) while the coronary heart
disease risk ratio was slightly less in the male hypertensives (0.28+0.09) than in
the female hypertensives (0.29+0.09).
The mean serum CRP in the female hypertensives (0.20mg/dl+0.09) was
found to be higher than the mean serum CRP in the male hypertensives
(0.17+0.10).