Fasting hypertriglyceridemia in relation to mortality in an elderly male Chinese population

J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2024 Oct;26(10):1163-1170. doi: 10.1111/jch.14887. Epub 2024 Aug 19.

Abstract

We investigated fasting hypertriglyceridemia as predictors of all-cause, cardiovascular, and non-cardiovascular mortality in an elderly male Chinese population, while accounting for various conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Our participants were elderly men recruited from residents living in a suburban town of Shanghai (≥60 years of age, n = 1583). Hypertriglyceridemia was defined as a fasting serum triglycerides concentration ≥1.70 mmol/L. Subgroup analyses were performed according to current smoking (yes vs. no), alcohol intake (yes vs. no), and the presence and absence of hypertension and hyperglycemia. During a median of 7.9 years follow-up, all-cause, cardiovascular, and non-cardiovascular deaths occurred in 279, 112, and 167 participants, respectively. After adjustment for confounding factors, fasting hypertriglyceridemia was not significantly (p ≥ .33) associated with the risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, and non-cardiovascular mortality. However, there was significant (p = .03) interaction between hypertriglyceridemia and the presence and absence of hypertension in relation to all-cause mortality. In normotensive, but not hypertensive individuals, hypertriglyceridemia was significantly associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 1.57, 95% confidence interval 1.06-2.31). In further non-parametric analyses in normotensive individuals, the age-standardized rate for all-cause mortality increased from 18.9 in quartile 1 to 20.0, to 24.7, and to 39.9 per 1000 person-years in quartiles 2, 3, and 4 of serum triglycerides concentration, respectively (ptrend = .0004). Similar results were observed for cardiovascular mortality. Our study in elderly male Chinese showed that fasting hypertriglyceridemia was associated with a higher risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with normotension but not those with hypertension.

Keywords: fasting hypertriglyceridemia; hypertension; mortality; normotension; serum triglycerides.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alcohol Drinking / adverse effects
  • Alcohol Drinking / epidemiology
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / epidemiology
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / mortality
  • Cause of Death / trends
  • China / epidemiology
  • East Asian People
  • Fasting*
  • Humans
  • Hypertension* / epidemiology
  • Hypertension* / mortality
  • Hypertriglyceridemia* / complications
  • Hypertriglyceridemia* / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Risk Factors
  • Smoking / adverse effects
  • Smoking / epidemiology
  • Triglycerides* / blood

Substances

  • Triglycerides