Serum levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances are associated with risk of coronary heart disease.

Aim: Evidence of relationships between lipid peroxidation and the incidence of coronary heart disease is limited. We therefore investigated this association in a Japanese general population.

Methods: We prospectively studied 1945 individuals who were apparently healthy at the baseline. Cox proportional-hazards models were used to investigate the relationship between serum levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) as a marker of lipid peroxidation and the incidence of coronary heart disease, adjusted for established risk factors including age, sex, current smoking, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, glycohemoglobin A1c, serum total cholesterol, and serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels.

Results: During 20,226 person-years of follow-up (median follow-up, 10.9 years), 44 coronary events were documented. The risk of coronary heart disease increased in consecutive tertiles of the TBARS level. On age-and sex-adjusted analysis, the level of TBARS was significantly associated with the incidence of coronary heart disease. The hazard ratio in the highest tertile compared with the lowest tertile was 3.22 (95% confidence interval, 1.38 to 7.53; p= 0.007). On multivariate analysis adjusted for age, sex, and other established risk factors, this association remained significant (hazard ratio, 3.23; 95% confidence interval, 1.28 to 8.16; p= 0.01).

Conclusions: Serum levels of TBARS are a strong and independent predictor of coronary heart disease. These findings support the hypothesis that lipid peroxidation is an important risk factor for coronary heart disease.