Ejaz Fatima, Abdul Qudoos, Khalid Niaz, Shah Murad.
Normal Triglycerides and normal Blood Pressure decrease risk of developing Coronary Artery Disease.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;8(3):536-8.

Background: New research in medicine has proved that high plasma triglycerides could be independent risk factor for coronary artery disease. Increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure with high serum triglycerides increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis, CAD and MI. Methods: Research study was conducted in Jinnah hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Out of one hundred hyperlipidemic patients, ninety patients completed treatment period of three months. 42 patients were on drug niacin 2 grams daily in three divided doses and 48 were on placebo therapy. Their baseline values of serum TGs and blood pressure were taken at day-0. They were advised to take drug niacin or placebo and were advised to come for follow up at Lipid clinic of the hospital fortnightly. Data regarding parameters of the research work were expressed as the mean values±SD and “t” test was applied to determine statistical difference in results. P-value >0.05 was considered as non-significance, P-value < 0.05 was considered as significant and P-value < 0.001 was considered as highly significant change in the results. Results: In three months with use of 2 grams Niacin thrice daily, plasma TGs decreased from 169.64±2.00 to 137.35±1.27mg/dl, systolic BP decreased from 125.88±1.65mmHg, to 119.70±1.66mmHg, and diastolic BP decreased from 89.11±1.32mmHg to 84.70±1.22mmHg. Changes in all values when compared with placebo results were found significant. Conclusion: Standard and recommended Antihyperlipidemic drug therapy includes HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, niacin, fibrates and bile acid binding resins. Out of these four drug groups, only niacin is the drug which favors the required therapy in sense it normalizes TGs and both fractions of blood pressure. We concluded from the above research that Niacin when used in high doses (as compared to its RDA) reduces TGs, systolic and diastolic blood pressure significantly, so decreases the risk for morbidity or mortality due to atherosclerosis, CAD or heart attack.

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