Triglycerides may be acute phase reactants which are not negatively affected by pathologic weight loss
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Mehmet Rami Helvaci (1)
Atilla Yalcin (1)
Orhan Ekrem Muftuoglu (1)
Abdulrazak Abyad (2)
Lesley Pocock (3)

(1) Specialist of Internal Medicine, MD
(2) Middle-East Academy for Medicine of Aging, MD
(3) medi+WORLD International

Corresponding author:
Prof Dr Mehmet Rami Helvaci
07400, ALANYA, Turkey
Phone: 00-90-506-4708759
Email: mramihelvaci@hotmail.com

Received September 2020. Accepted October 2020. Published December 1, 2020.Please cite this article as: Mehmet Rami Helvaci et al. Triglycerides may be acute phase reactants which are not negatively affected by pathologic weight loss. Middle East J Intern Med 2020; 13(3): 14-19. DOI: 10.5742/MEJIM2020.93793

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ABSTRACT

Background: Sickle cell diseases (SCD) are chronic inflammatory process on vascular endothelium terminating with atherosclerosis induced end-organ failures in early decades of life.

Methods: Consecutive patients with the SCD and controls were studied.

Results: The study included 363 patients with the SCD (169 females) and 255 age and gender-matched controls (119 females). Mean ages of the SCD patients were similar in males and females (31.1 versus 31.0 years, respectively, p>0.05). Although the body weight and body mass index (BMI) were significantly retarded in the SCD patients (59.9 versus 71.5 kg and 21.9 versus 25.6 kg/m2, respectively, p= 0.000 for both), the body heights were similar in both groups (164.9 versus 167.0 cm, p>0.05). Parallel to the retarded body weight, fasting plasma glucose (92.8 versus 97.6 mg/dL, p= 0.005), total cholesterol (121.4 versus 165.0 mg/dL, p= 0.000), low density lipoproteins (70.4 versus 102.4 mg/dL, p= 0.000), high density lipoproteins (26.0 versus 39.6 mg/dL, p= 0.000), systolic blood pressures (BP) (115.2 versus 122.6 |mmHg, p= 0.000), and diastolic BP (73.0 versus 86.6 mmHg, p= 0.000) were all lower in the SCD patients, significantly. Interestingly, only the triglycerides (TG) value was higher in the SCD patients (129.4 versus 117.3 mg/dL, p= 0.000), significantly. Similarly, the alanine aminotransferase value was not suppressed in the SCD patients, too (27.4 versus 27.3 U/L, respectively, p>0.05).

Conclusion: Plasma TG may be acute phase reactants indicating disseminated endothelial injury and accelerated atherosclerosis all over the body, and their plasma values are not negatively affected by pathologic weight loss.

Key words: Sickle cell diseases, chronic endotelial damage, atherosclerosis, triglycerides, acute phase reactants, metabolic syndrome, body weight