Impact of markedly elevated serum lipoprotein(a) levels (> or = 100 mg/dL) on the risk of coronary heart disease.

The serum lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] concentration is under genetic control, and most humans have values lower than 30 mg/dL. Subjects with markedly elevated serum Lp(a) concentrations, that is, > or =100 mg/dL, are rarely encountered, and these subjects have not yet been fully characterized from the clinical point of view. In the present investigation, we studied a total of 223 subjects, comprising 123 males and 100 females, with serum Lp(a) values of more than 100 mg/dL.