Paré G, et al. - Researchers examined the association between lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] levels and the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) among 7 ethnic groups- including 775 Africans, 4,443 Chinese, 1,352 Arabs, 1,856 Europeans, 1,469 Latin Americans, 1,829 South Asians, and 1,221 Southeast Asians. They also intended to characterize differences in isoform size distribution and the related Lp(a) levels between ethnic groups. From the INTERHEART study, 6,086 cases of first MI and 6,857 controls stratified by ethnicity and adjusted for age and sex were examined. Findings revealed decidedly varied Lp(a) concentration and isoform size between ethnic groups. An increased risk of MI was observed in relation to higher Lp(a) concentrations. An especially high population burden in South Asians and Latin Americans was noted, which was attributed to higher Lp(a) concentrations. They found an inverse link between isoform size and Lp(a) concentration, however, no significant contribution of isoform size to risk was found.