Correlation between of small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol with acute cerebral infarction and carotid atherosclerotic plaque stability

Background Acute cerebral infarction (ACI) is seriously harmful to human health worldwide. However, at present, the risk of disease onset is still not accurately predicted for some people. Methods Five hundred and nineteen patients with ACI and 300 healthy controls were included in this study. We divided the patients into three groups according to the results of cervical artery contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Ninety-five patients were in the CAS without plaque group, 108 patients were in the stable plaque group, and 316 patients were in the unstable plaque group. TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, and sdLDL-C were measured in all subjects. Results The level of small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL-C) in the ACI group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that sdLDL-C was an independent risk factor for ACI (OR = 1.067, 95% CI: 1.041-1.093, P < 0.001); serum sdLDL-C was significantly higher in the unstable plaque group than in the stable plaque group and plaque-free group (P < 0.05, P < 0.001); serum sdLDL-C was also higher in the stable plaque group than the plaque-free group (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that sdLDL-C was an independent risk factor for unstable carotid plaques (OR = 1.053, 95% CI: 1.038-1.068, P < 0.001); Spearman correlation analysis showed that sdLDL-C test results were positively correlated with carotid plaque stability (r = 0.363, P < 0.001). Conclusion Small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is an independent risk factor for the onset of ACI and may be an early serum marker for this disease.