Circulating concentrations of endothelin-1 predict coronary heart disease in women but not in men: a longitudinal observational study in the Vara-Skövde Cohort. Issue 1 (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Daka, Bledar; Olausson, Josefin; Larsson, Charlotte; Hellgren, Margareta; Råstam, Lennart; Jansson, Per-Anders; Lindblad, Ulf
• Is Part Of: BMC cardiovascular disorders. Volume 15:Issue 1(2015)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 8
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Coronary heart disease -- Endothelin-1 -- Prospective study -- Skaraborg project; Cardiovascular system -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 616.12005
• DOI: 10.1186/s12872-015-0141-y
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1471-2261

Abstract

Abstract Background The vasoconstricting peptide endothelin-1 has been proposed to be a marker of cardiovascular disease. Our aim was to investigate whether circulating endothelin-1 levels predict coronary heart disease (CHD) in Sweden. Methods In 2002–2005, 2816 adult participants (30–74 years) were randomly selected from two municipalities in south-western Sweden. Cardiovascular risk factors and endothelin-1 levels were assessed at baseline, and incident CHD was followed-up in all participants through 2011. After exclusion of 50 participants due to known CHD at baseline and 21 participants because of unsuccessful analysis of endothelin-1, 2745 participants were included in the study. In total, 72 CHD events (52 in men and 20 in women) were registered during the follow-up time. Results We showed that baseline circulating endothelin-1 levels were higher in women with incident CHD than in women without CHD (3.2 pg/ml, SE: 0.36 vs 2.4 pg/ml, SE: 0.03, p = 0.003) whereas this difference was not observed in men (2.3 pg/ml, SE: 0.16 vs 2.3 pg/ml, SE: 0.04, p = 0.828). An age-adjusted Cox proportional regression analysis showed an enhanced risk of CHD with increasing baseline endothelin-1 levels in women (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.51, 95 % CI = 1.1–2.1, p = 0.015) but not in men (HR = 0.98, 95 % CI = 0.8–1.2, p = 0.854). Furthermore, the predictive value of endothelin-1 for incident CHD in women was still significant after adjustments for age, HOMA-IR, apolipoprotein (apo)B/apoA1 and smoking (HR = 1.53, CI = 1.1–1.2, p = 0.024). Conclusion Circulating endothelin-1 levels may predict CHD in women.