Increased oxidized high-density lipoprotein/ high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol ratio as a potential indicator of disturbed metabolic health in overweight and obese individuals

Abstract

Background: We evaluated the qualitative characteristics of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles in metabolically healthy and unhealthy overweight and obese subjects. Methods: The study involved 115 subject individuals classified as metabolically healthy and unhealthy, as in overweight and obese groups. Commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were used to measure oxidized HDL (OxHDL) and serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations. Lipoprotein subfractions were separated using nondenaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Results: An independent association was shown between increased OxHDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio and the occurrence of metabolically unhealthy phenotype in the overweight and obese groups. The OxHDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio showed excellent and acceptable diagnostic accuracy in determination of metabolic health phenotypes (overweight group, AUC = 0.881; obese group, AUC = 0.765). Accumulation of smaller HDL particles in metabolically unhealthy subjects was verified by lipoprotein subfraction analysis. SAA concentrations did not differ significantly between phenotypes. Conclusions: Increased OxHDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio may be a potential indicator of disturbed metabolic health in overweight and obese individuals.