Prevalence and associated factors of dyslipidemia in elderly people: Results from the Ardakan Cohort Study on Ageing, Iran.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Dyslipidemia is a major modifiable factor in elderly people. The study objective was to assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of dyslipidemia among the Iranian population aged over 50.

METHODS

This population-based cross-sectional study is part of the Iranian Longitudinal Study on Ageing conducted in Ardakan, Iran. In total, 5,197 participants aged over 50 years old were included through a stratified random sampling method. Dyslipidemia was defined in compliance with the Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. The Chi-square and independent sample t-test were used to compare categorical and quantitative variables, respectively. A logistic regression analysis was applied to determine associated factors of dyslipidemia.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 62.24±7.52. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was 68.85%. High levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, and low level of high-density lipoprotein were seen among 9.74%, 24.66%, 5.54%, 19.20% of the participants, respectively. In addition, 66.05% of the study participants were under the treatment of lipid-lowering medications. Among the possible investigated risk factors of dyslipidemia, male gender (odds ratio (OR) = 0.56, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.47, 0.68), waist circumference (OR = 1.03, 95%CI: 1.02, 1.04), diabetes mellitus (OR = 2.28, 95%CI: 1.96, 2.66), and hypertension (OR = 1.59, 95%CI: 1.38, 1.83) showed a statistically significant association (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Dyslipidemia is highly prevalent in Ardakan's older population. So, lipid management interventions are necessary for this population.