Cross-sectional study.
SETTING: A university hospital.
PARTICIPANTS: The frequencies of the subjects with
apo(a) phenotypes of high-molecular weight only, including S3, S4, or S5 or null type were 95.4% of control, 100% of HD patients, and 95.1% of
CAPD patients. The frequent
apo(a) phenotypes in Koreans consisted of S4, S4S5, S5, and S5S5
isoforms. Significant difference was found in serum Lp(a) concentration among controls and HD and
CAPD patients [median (Interquartile range): 0.05 g/L, (0.01-0.19); 0.19 g/L, (0.10-0.35); 0.63 g/L, (0.28-0.90), p < 0.001]. Lp(a) levels in
CAPD patients were significantly higher than in HD patients for all four common
apo(a)
isoforms found in Korean subjects.
CAPD patients had higher total and
LDL cholesterol levels, and higher
ApoB levels than HD patients. Significant differences were found in
serum albumin levels between controls and HD and
CAPD patients (44 +/- 3 g/L, 40 +/- 4 g/L, 32 +/- 7 g/L, respectively, p < 0.05). There were significant inverse correlations between
serum albumin and Lp(a) (r = -0.33, p < 0.01), total
cholesterol (r = -0.31, p < 0.01),
LDL (r = -0.39, p < 0.01) or
ApoB (r = -0.35, p < 0.01) in
ESRD patients. A significant positive correlation was found between
serum albumin and ApoA1 (r = 0.24, p < 0.01).
CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that Koreans have mainly high molecular weight
apo(a) phenotypes and serum Lp(a) is elevated in
CAPD patients compared to HD patients for common
apo(a) phenotypes, which may contribute to the frequent cardiovascular mortality in
CAPD patients.