The following is the summary of “Associations of Cardiorespiratory Fitness With Estimated Remnant Cholesterol and Non–High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Healthy Men,” published in the January 2023 issue of Cardiovascular Disease by Jae et al.

Some evidence suggests that low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. While it is known that high CRF correlates with healthy conventional lipid profiles, the relationship between CRF and Remnant cholesterol (RC) and non-HDL-C is less evident. Here, researchers used cross-sectional data from 4,613 males in good health to draw conclusions (mean age 49 years). CRF was quantified by dividing the peak oxygen consumption during incremental exercise testing into 4 groups. 

Total cholesterol was subtracted from HDL-C and LDL-C to determine RC, and RC levels above ≥38 mg/100 ml were considered abnormal (90 percentile). High non-HDL-C was defined as ≥190 mg/100 ml and was determined by subtracting HDL-C from the total cholesterol reading. After controlling for other potential dangers, CRF was found to have a negative correlation with RC and non-HDL-C (β -0.31, 95% CI -0.39 to -0.24) and RC and non-HDL-C (β −0.34, 95% CI -0.57 to -0.11). 

In multivariate analysis, the risk of having elevated RC was inversely linked with increasing CRF (odds ratio [OR] 0.85, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.93) and increasing non-HDL-C (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.00). The top quartile of CRF was associated with a reduced risk of high RC (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.88) and non-HDL-C (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.91) when compared to the bottom quartile. In conclusion, lower RC and non-HDL-C levels and lower probabilities of elevated RC and non-HDL-C prevalence were independently related to higher CRF in healthy men.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002914922010463