Severity of angiographic coronary obstruction and the apolipoprotein E polymorphism in acute coronary syndromes.

Background: There is evidence of the association between the apolipoprotein E (APOE) and coronary disease; however, there are controversies.

Objective: To evaluate the association between the number of coronary vessels with significant obstruction defined by angiography, the APOE polymorphism and clinical variables.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, multicenter study with 207 patients (138 men), with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), in the city of Niteroi, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who underwent coronary angiography and genotype determination for the APOE *2*3*4 polymorphism by the Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) method.