Lipid profile components and incident cerebrovascular events versus coronary heart disease; the result of 9 years follow-up in Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study

• The associations of lipid components on ischemic stroke were modified by gender.
• In women, TC, LDL-C and non-HDL-C were associated with ischemic stroke.
• In men, none of the lipids were independent predictors.

ObjectiveTo assess the effects of lipid component total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and non-HDL-C on risk of stroke events versus coronary heart disease (CHD).MethodsThe study was conducted on 2620 Iranians, aged ≥ 50 years, free from cardiovascular events at baseline (1999–2001). The multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) for stroke/CHD were calculated for 1 mmol/L change in lipid components, using Cox proportional hazard regression.ResultsDuring 9.1 years of follow-up, 73 and 358 cases of stroke and CHD occurred. We found significant interactions between TC and non-HDL-C with gender in risk prediction of stroke. Among women, multivariate adjusted HRs of ischemic stroke were 1.40 (1.08–1.82), 1.66 (0.71–3.86), 2.27 (0.58–8.91), 1.51 (1.06–2.15) and 1.36 (1.024–1.78) for TC, Ln TG, HDL-C, LDL-C and non-HDL-C respectively, while corresponding HRs of ischemic stroke for men were 0.78 (0.55–1.11), 0.71 (0.33–1.51), 1.04 (0.24–4.47), 0.82 (0.56–1.22), 0.78 (0.55–1.11), respectively. We found no interaction between gender and any of the lipids in risk prediction of incident CHD (p > 0.3). All lipid components were independently associated with CHD in whole population.ConclusionThe associations of lipid components on ischemic stroke were modified by gender. Only among female population, TC, LDL-C and non-HDL-C were independently associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke. Regarding CHD events, all lipid components were significant predictors.