CRP and Hypercholesterolemia: Most importantly, while smoking, age, C-reactive protein (CRP) [50], ALDH2 deficiency [119], and lipoprotein(a) [120] are risk factors for CAS, CAS is not associated with the classic risk factors for CAD [50,121], such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension [53], hypercholesterolemia [50,121] and obesity [50,121], suggesting pathophysiological differences exist between CAS and CAD.