Effect of obesity, glucose control, lipid profiles, and blood pressure on Lp-PLA2 levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder with cardiovascular complications as its main cause of morbidity and mortality. Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is a new biomarker of cardiovas- cular disorders in metabolic diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of glucose control, obesity, lipid profiles, and blood pressure on Lp-PLA2 levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Methods and results: This was a cross-sectional study comprising 60 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Body mass index, waist circumference, body fat (BF) percentage, and blood pressure were measured. Fasting lasma glucose, HbA1c, and lipid profile were then analyzed. The Lp-PLA2 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.
Results: Lp-PLA2 had significant positive correlation with plasma glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, LDL-C, body fat, systole, diastole, and mean arterial pressure (MAP). Multivariate regression analysis showed that MAP (β = 0.485, p = <0.001), triglycerides (β = 0.224, p = 0.048), and BF (β = 0.225, p = 0.051) predicted the Lp-PLA2 levels in all subjects. Further analysis confirmed that BF (β = 0.559, p = <0.001) and MAP (β = 0.449, p = 0.001) predicted Lp-PLA2 levels in males, while LDL-C (β = 0.525, p = 0.002) and triglycerides (β = 0.390, p = 0.015) predicted the enzyme levels in females. Conclusion: Lp-PLA2 shows an important association with blood pressure, lipid profile, and obesity, in particular with BF and MAP in males and with LDL-C and triglycerides in females.