Lipid profiles show considerable variation according to race and ethnicity, research suggests, supporting the need for ethnically targeted strategies for the management of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
The research was undertaken by the DECODE (Diabetes Epidemiology: Collaborative Analysis of Diagnostic Criteria in Europe) and DECODA (Diabetes Epidemiology: Collaborative Analysis of Diagnostic Criteria in Asia) study group, an international research consortium led by Qing Qiao (University of Helsinki, Finland).
The team analyzed blood samples from 52,355 men and women aged 25–74 years from 12 countries (including Asian Indian, Chinese, European, Japanese, and Mauritian Indian).
The participants were stratified according to their glucose levels into one of four categories: normoglycemia, prediabetes (ie, impaired fasting glucose/impaired glucose tolerance), undiagnosed diabetes, and diagnosed diabetes.
Multivariate-adjusted lipid profiles differed across ethnic groups, Qiao and co-authors report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Compared with central and northern Europeans, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of having low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was significantly higher for Asian Indians, Mauritian Indians, Hong Kong Chinese, and Southern Europeans; similar for Japanese; and lower for Quingdao Chinese. This was true in each of the four glucose categories.
Compared with central and northern Europeans, the likelihood of having high triglycerides was higher in Asian Indians and Mauritian Indians and lower in Southern Europeans.
Conversely, the odds ratio for having high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was consistently lower in all Asian ethnic groups compared with central and northern Europeans.
Asian Indians had considerably lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol compared with other ethnic groups. Despite this, Asian Indians were more likely to have low HDL cholesterol than any other ethnic group.
Qiao and colleagues say that many factors may underlie the observed ethnic differences in lipid profiles, including genetic, environmental, psychosocial, cultural, and as-yet unknown/unmeasured factors.
“There are distinct patterns of lipid profiles associated with ethnicity, regardless of the glucose levels,” they conclude. “Ethnic- and region-specific considerations are an important component for guidelines on risk assessment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.”