Saroglitazar: A New Drug to Treat Diabetic Hypertriglyceridemia.
Dyslipidemia alone has been considered as one of the major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) accounting for 50% of the 1st myocardial infarction (MI) cases
worldwide. A recent epidemiological survey on prevalence of lipid abnormalities of the Indian
population by Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes Study (ICMR-INDIAB), has
shown that 79% of Indian subjects above 20 years of age have abnormalities in at least one of
the lipid parameters. In this survey, the most commonly found lipid abnormality was low-high
density lipoprotein cholesterol (low HDL-C) in 72% subjects followed by high triglycerides
(TG) in 29.5% subjects and then high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in 11.8%
subjects. Prevalence of dyslipidemia is high in India, which calls for urgent lifestyle and pharmacological intervention strategies to prevent and manage this important cardiovascular risk
factor.
Statins the 1st line therapy for dyslipidemia reduce not only LDL-C levels but also the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with or without cardiovascular disease. Intensive statin
therapy as compared with moderate-dose statin therapy incrementally lowers LDL cholesterol levels and rates of non-fatal cardiovascular events. The magnitude of CVD risk reduction as
a consequence of LDL-C lowering mostly ranges between 25% and 35%. This statistically
significant but clinically inadequate control of CVD risk is in part due to a lipid treatment focus on LDL-C alone with a resultant neglect of other important aspects of lipoprotein metabolism. Statin therapy may not eliminate CVD Risk associated with low HDL and high triglycerides. This review article focuses on elevated serum triglycerides (TG) and triglyceride rich lipoproteins as potential factors limiting further reduction in CVD events despite low on-treatment LDL-C.
Heart Res Open J. 2016; 4(1): 12-17. doi: 10.17140/HROJ-4-135
