SNPs, Lipoproteins, and Cardiovascular Risk

Scientists have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with LDL and HDL cholesterol levels. Presumably, such SNPs provide more reliable information about the levels of lipids a patient is exposed to over a lifetime — and thus, his or her risk for cardiovascular events — than a single lipid measurement does. Investigators explored this hypothesis by testing whether a genotype score based on SNPs at nine loci had predictive value beyond that of a single measure of LDL and HDL levels.

First the investigators identified the SNPs that were associated with variations in LDL and HDL levels in the cardiovascular cohort of the Malmö Diet and Cancer Study. Then they generated a score for each subject based on the number …