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Lipoprotein biomarkers and cardiovascular risk in Māori and Pacific communities

Year:
2014
Duration:
32 months
Approved budget:
$243,003.00
Researchers:
Dr Allamanda Faatoese
Health issue:
Cardiovascular/cerebrovascular
Proposal type:
Pacific Health Postdoctoral Fellowship
Lay summary
Cardiovascular disease outcomes for Maori and Pacific are consistently poorer compared to New Zealand Europeans in New Zealand. Emerging lipid biomarkers, such as lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), have been previously shown to be significantly and independently associated with risk of heart disease events across various ethnic groups. However, I recently found that levels of Lp(a) in a Maori cohort were significantly lower than in the general New Zealand population, and preliminary evidence from others suggests this may also be true in Pacific populations. Lp(a) and apo(a) have been proposed as markers to identify individuals at high risk of heart disease, but it is important to establish whether this would be misleading in individuals of Polynesian descent. I propose to determine the normal ranges of Lp(a) and a second novel lipoprotein, Lp-PLA2, and whether these novel lipoprotein biomarkers are effective in stratifying heart disease risk in the Pacific community.