[Epidemiology of hypertriglyceridemia].

It is controversial whether serum triglyceride levels are independent predictors or not. A large meta-analysis of 68 prospective studies reported that triglycerides showed a strong stepwise association with both cardiovascular diseases and ischemic stroke. However, after adjustment for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, those associations were no longer significant. On the other hand, recent studies suggest that postprandial or non-fasting triglyceride levels may be better predictors of cardiovascular risk than fasting triglyceride levels. Triglyceride-rich lipoproteins plays a direct role in atherogenesis, and also promote compositional proatherogenic changes in low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein particles. These findings indicate the importance of measuring serum triglyceride levels in the postprandial period.