AGE & GENDER BASED LP(A) LEVELS: INDIAN REFERENCE LAB DATABASE

India is experiencing an escalating epidemic of coronary artery disease and Cardiovascular Disease. Acute Myocardial Infarction rates are threefold to fivefold higher in young Indians than in other populations. Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) is increasingly recognized as the strongest known genetic risk factor for premature CAD. Numerous studies have been published on Lp(a), suggesting that south Asians have the second highest Lp(a) levels as compared to other population groups. We planned to review our lab data as we could not find any recent Indian study on Lp(a) levels based on large population. Objective: To analyse age and gender-based difference in Lp(a) levels in Indian population along with the lipid profile in different Lp(a) categorises. The present retrospective study is done at Dr. Lal pathlabs. Data of the patients who visited lab for routine health check- up from April 2023 to March 2025 was analyzed for Lp(a) levels and lipid profile. Results: In the present study, 37421 individuals underwent lp(a) testing and a subset of 18692 had their concurrent lipid profile assessed. The population was categorised into different groups based on age and gender. When the population was categorised into 4 different groups based on age, high Lp(a) levels were observed at age group >60 years with median Lp(a) value of 27 mg/dL and this was statistically significant as compared with other age group with p <0.001. It was also found that the percentage of individuals in each Lp(a) category irrespective of age is approximately constant. Approximately 26.2% (9816) of population fall in high risk Lp(a) category with median 81 mg/dL. There were 25508 (68.16%) males and 11913 (31.84%) females. Females showed had high levels of Lp(a) as compared to males with median of 25 and 21 respectively and this difference was statistically significant. Present study showed a negative correlation between Triglyceride and Lp(a) levels but a positive correlation was observed between Lp(a) levels and HDL-cholesterol, Total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol respectively. Conclusion: Overall, our study suggests that LP(a) levels are significantly high for patients with >60 years of age. Levels >50mg/dL was seen in 26.2% population which roughly translates into the fact that one out of four Indians has Lp(a) above 50 mg/dL. We even found gender-based difference in Lp(a) levels with Females having high levels of LP(a) in comparison to males. Individuals in high-risk category had significantly high HDL-cholesterol, Total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol but Low Triglyceride and this was statistically significant with low-risk category.