HDL function metrics and clinical outcomes in prospective cohort studies

With 17.9 million deaths every year attributed to cardiovascular disease, it is the number one cause of death worldwide. With the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease, predicting incidence but also prognosis is of importance in clinical practice.HDL-C has been evaluated as a prospective biomarker for CVD risk in epidemiologicalstudies. Pharmaceutical and genetic studies had disappointed outcomes indicatedthat raised HDL-C levels do not consistently translate into decreased mortality ormorbidity of CVD. The transition from investigating levels of HDL-C to functionalities of HDL particles became a way to gain more knowledge of HDL. This thesis summarizes clinical aspects of HDL function, namely cholesterol efflux, anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory capacities in prospective cohort studies. The presented data demonstrate that important clinic information can be gained by measurements of HDL functionality in different disease states. Compared with HDL-C alone, HDL function measurement might add relevant information for risk stratification in patients with CVD. Although important groundwork has already been laid in the field of HDL function, more knowledge and experimentation is needed to move this important emerging topic from experimental research towards clinical application

Dissertation: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/f872e38f-08b8-49da-8fcb-20a3049bbf08