Management of Hypertriglyceridemia for Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases

ABSTRACT

Hypertriglyceridemia has been considered as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. However, triglyceride levels are influenced by many clinical and lipid risk factors. When triglyceride levels are adjusted by these variables, the effect of hypertriglyceridemia as a cardiovascular risk factor becomes minimal or negligible. Therefore, the association of hypertriglyceridemia with cardiovascular diseases is uncertain. The effect of triglyceride-lowering drugs on cardiovascular diseases is also unclear. These drugs failed to reduce cardiovascular events in relatively high risk patients with variable lipid profiles. However, subgroup analysis showed the cardioprotective effects in selected patients. It is clinically important whether a patient with hypertriglyceridemia should be treated with drug therapy or not. This paper discusses this issue based on limited data of published reports.