People who have high levels of triglycerides — a type of blood fat — in their bloodstream may be at a higher risk of a certain kind of stroke, new research finds.
The study suggests doctors take a closer look at these levels rather than focusing all their attention on "bad" cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels.
Triglycerides are a type of fat that circulates in the bloodstream, providing the body with energy between meals. They can become elevated when people eat more calories than they burn.
Researchers at the Samsung Medical Centre at the Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon, Korea, along with those at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles tracked 1,049 patients admitted to a university medical centre over a four-year period.
They discovered that 247 had experienced a large artery atherosclerotic stroke. This type of stroke is ischemic, meaning it is caused by a blockage of blood to the brain.
Those who had high triglycerides and high levels of "non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol" were much more likely to suffer a large artery atherosclerotic stroke than those with low triglyceride levels.
In fact, those people with the highest triglyceride levels had a risk of atherosclerotic stroke 2.7 times higher than those with the lowest levels. This risk was higher than those patients who had elevated non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (which is neither bad nor good cholesterol): these subjects were 2.4 times more likely than those with low levels of the cholesterol to suffer such a stroke.
Usually, doctors measure LDL to determine a person's risk of stroke; triglyceride levels aren't typically assessed. The study found however, that people with high LDL levels actually didn't have an increased risk of atherosclerotic stroke. The authors suggest a change in thinking among physicians might be warranted.
"Because this type of cholesterol is included in the test that is normally ordered, and triglycerides are already reported, it would not be difficult to start paying closer attention to these factors in people at risk for large artery stroke," said study author Bruce Ovbiagele, of UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, in a release.
The findings are published in the Dec. 16 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of The American Academy of Neurology.
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