Prevalence of Hypo- and Hyperalphalipoproteinemia according to different diagnostic criteria in the massa lombarda project cohort

Objective: Several studies use different cut off point to define the pathological HDL-C levels. We applied the most cited diagnostic criteria to the Massa Lombaxda Project cohort in order to estimate the prevalence of Hypo (HypoALP)- and Hyperalphalipoproteinemia (HyperALP). Methods: We stratified our sample (1199 adult subjects M:516, F:683) from The Massa Lombaxda Project cohort according to the main diagnostic criteria: the first one was based on the cut-off < 10th percentile for hypoALP and >90th percentile for hyperALP; the second one was based on NCEP (National Cholesterol Education Program) ATPIII (Adult Treatment Panel III) cut-off <40 mg/dl for low HDL-C levels and _>60 mg/dl for high HDL-C levels; the third one from Omagari Study was based on the cut off _>80 < 100 mg/dl for HyperALP and _> 100 mg/dl for marked HyperALP. Results: According to the first cut-off point the prevalence values of Hypo- Normo- and HyperALP were respectively F:5.1% M:3.5%, F:46.1% M:35.2%, F:5.6% M:4.2%; according to the second cut off point the values were F:6.0% M:12.8%, F:27.3% M:23.7%, F:23.5% M:6.4%; according to the third cut off point the prevalence values of Hyper- and marked HyperALP were F:3.5% M:0.5%, F:0.1% M:0.0%. Conclusion: Our research showed that the prevalence of Hypo- Normoand HyperALP in this sample changes according to the cut off point that we used; further according to ATP III diagnostic criteria there were more men (9.3%) with a significant cardiovascular risk factor: low HDL-C levels. It could be suitable to standardize the diagnostic methods.