Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Aim: The prognosis of patients with aortic aneurysm (AA) and cardiovascular comorbidities remains suboptimal compared with that of the general population, highlighting the need for reliable mortality biomarkers. Apolipoprotein A2 (ApoA2) is a structural and functional component of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). However, cardioprotective effects of ApoA2 still remain controversial. Therefore, we investigated the prognostic value of ApoA2 in patients with AA after surgical repair.
Methods: ApoA2 levels were measured in 203 consecutive patients with AA who were successfully treated with surgical repair. The primary focus was the predictive value of ApoA2 levels for mortality events.
Results: During a median follow-up of 3.5 years, mortality events were observed in 32 patients (15.8 %). Patients with mortality events had lower ApoA2 levels than survivors [22.0 (19.0, 25.0) mg/dL vs. 25.0 (22.0, 29.0) mg/dL, p<0.001]. ApoA2 was inversely correlated with age, BNP, C-reactive protein (CRP), and fibrinogen levels and positively correlated with eGFR. Multivariate Cox analysis identified ApoA2 (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.86–0.99), eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m2 (HR 3.49, 95% CI 1.49–8.20), COPD (HR 2.63, 95% CI 1.07–6.49), and thoracic AA (HR 2.54, 95% CI 1.25–5.18) as independent mortality predictors. Moreover, the addition of ApoA2 levels significantly improved the discriminative ability of baseline risk factors in predicting mortality (AUC 0.79 vs. 0.73, p=0.04).
Conclusions: ApoA2 is a potential biomarker for mortality risk stratification in patients with AA after surgical repair, with possible therapeutic implications for improving the outcomes in AA.