Daytime triglyceridemia in normocholesterolemic patients with premature atherosclerosis and in their first-degree relatives

Abstract Postprandial hypertriglyceridemia tested under metabolic ward conditions with unphysiological high fat loads has been reported in CAD patients and their relatives even in the presence of normal fasting lipids. It is unclear whether this also occurs in the daytime situation. Twenty-seven normocholesterolemic, non-obese and nondiabetic patients with premature coronary artery disease (CAD) and 56 first-degree relatives without CAD measured daytime capillary triglyceride profiles (TGc-AUC) as an estimate of postprandial lipemia. Fasting capillary triglycerides (TGc) were not significantly different between CAD index patients and their relatives (1.68 ± 0.63 and 1.54 ± 0.71 mmol/L, respectively). In contrast, daytime triglyceridemia was significantly higher in CAD patients (30.7 ± 13.6 mmol · h/L) compared to their relatives (24.4 ± 9.4 mmol · h/L) and this was also the case after correction for fasting TGc (7.24 ± 7.41 and 2.79 ± 6.89 mmol · h/L; P