Alpha lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in the serum and the risk of coronary heart disease and death.

The Minnesota Prospective Study on coronary heart disease (CHD) in 284 business and professional men began in 1947. In 1953 and 1955 measurements were made of serum alpha-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol on the men. The mean was 45 . 2 mg/dl, the same as reported for HDL cholesterol in men of that age at Framingham. As with HDL at Framingham and elsewhere, alpha cholesterol was not correlated with age, blood-pressure, total cholesterol, or smoking habit, but was negatively correlated (r=-0.37) with relative body-weight. In the next 25 years 133 men died, 55 from CHD. Mean alpha cholesterol of those who died from CHD was lower than that of men dying from other causes but was not significantly different from the mean of the 120 men alive in 1978. Of all groups classified by 25-year outcome, the 32 men who died from neoplasms had the highest mean alpha cholesterol at entry, differing significantly from survivors. Multivariate analysis did not change the relationships. Consideration of CHD only and follow-up of only a few years may greatly distort evaluation of the overall long-term significance of HDL cholesterol concentration in the plasma.