Serum high-density lipoproteins in peripheral vascular disease.

High-density lipoprotein (H.D.L.) cholesterol has been measured by the 'Autoanalyzer', and apolipoproteins A-I, A-II, and B by an immunochemical method, in 100 patients with peripheral vascular disease (P.V.D.) and in 93 age and sex matched controls with an approximately similar prevalence of hyperlipidaemia. The patients with P.V.D. had significantly lower levels of the H.D.L. apolipoproteins (especially of apo A-I) than the controls. Further analysis of the data showed low H.D.L. levels to be related to the presence (but not to the severity) of the arterial disease and to be independent of concurrent hyperlipidaemia and smoking habits. The changes in H.D.L. apoproteins were not so clearly reflected by H.D.L.-cholesterol measurements in the same patients, possibly because of methodological reasons. It is therefore suggested that studies relating serum-H.D.L. to arterial disease may be more informative if both the lipid and protein portions of these lipoproteins are measured.