Age-dependent association between hepatic lipase gene C-480T polymorphism and the risk of pre-hospital sudden cardiac death: The Helsinki Sudden Death Study

Objective We investigated the association between hepatic lipase (HL) C-480T polymorphism and the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) as well as pre-hospital sudden cardiac death (SCD). Methods Seven hundred sudden or unnatural pre-hospital deaths of middle-aged (33–70 years, mean 53 years) Caucasian Finnish men were subjected to detailed autopsy (Helsinki Sudden Death Study). Genotype data were obtained for 682 men. Results In logistic regression analysis with age, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, smoking and alcohol consumption as covariates, men with the TT genotype had an increased risk for SCD and AMI compared to CC carriers (OR = 3.0, P = 0.011; and OR = 3.7, P = 0.003). There was a significant age-by-genotype interaction (P < 0.05) on the risk of SCD. Compared to CC genotype carriers, the association between the TT genotype and SCD was particularly strong (P = 0.001) among men <53 years of age, but this association was non-significant among older men. This was mainly due to a strong association between the TT genotype and AMI due to severe coronary disease in the absence of thrombosis. Carriers of the TT genotype were more likely to have severe coronary stenoses (≥50%) than men with the CT or CC genotype (P = 0.019). Conclusions The results suggest that HL C-480T polymorphism is a strong age-dependent risk factor of SCD in early middle-aged men.