@article{3137256,
    title = "South-to-North gradient in lipid peroxidation in men with stable
coronary artery disease in Europe",
    author = "Grau, Maria and Guxens, Monica and Subirana, Isaac and Fito, Montserrat and and Covas, Maria-Isabel and Jacquemin, Benedicte and Sunyer, Jordi and and Lanki, Timo and Picciotto, Sally and Bellander, Tom and Katsouyanni, and Klea and Schneider, Alexandra and Peters, Annette and Marrugat, Jaume and and AIRGENE Study Grp",
    journal = "EUROPEAN HEART JOURNAL-CARDIOVASCULAR PHARMACOTHERAPY",
    year = "2007",
    volume = "28",
    number = "23",
    pages = "2841-2849",
    publisher = "Oxford University Press",
    doi = "10.1093/eurheartj/ehm446",
    keywords = "atherosclerosis; lipid peroxidation; oxidative stress; epidemiology;
coronary artery disease",
    abstract = "Aims A South-to-North gradient across Europe exists for the incidence of
coronary artery disease (CAD) rates. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
oxidation is a hallmark of atherosclerosis and CAD development. The aim
of our study was to determine whether differences exist in the degree of
LDL oxidation in stable CAD patients from different regions of Europe.
Methods and results A cross-sectional multicentre study included 790
stable CAD male subjects aged 35-79 years (61.4 +/- 9.5) from six
European countries in three regions by latitude: Northern (Finland and
Sweden), Central (Germany), and Southern (Greece, Spain, and Italy).
Plasma oxidized LDL (oxLDL) levels were determined. Alcohol intake and
lipid profile were significantly associated with oxLDL. The Italian
participants had the highest oxLDL levels. A sensitivity analysis showed
the models yielded higher adjusted oxLDL values in Northern (63.8 U/L)
than in Central (57.6 U/L) and Southern populations (56.5 U/L), P <
0.001, after excluding Italian subjects. The probability of Southern
Europe scoring the lowest oxLDL levels was > 71% in all fitted models.
Conclusion Our findings suggest a gradient in LDL oxidation from
Southern to Northern Europe that consistently holds for all levels of
LDL, except for Italy; this country displays the highest levels in
Europe, for unknown reasons."
}