Prevalence of Combined Hyperlipidemia in Turkish Adults: A Population-based Study Indicating Different Risk Factor Associations in the Two Genders

The cohort of the Marmara region in 1997 and of the rest of Turkey in 1995 were analyzed to identify in- dividuals with combined hyperlipidemia (CH) as defıned by the presence of hypertriglyceridemia >200 mg/dl associated with high levels of LDL-cholesterol (>130 mg/dl) and/or total cholesterol (>200 mg/dl). Furthennore, it was attempted to provide infomation on the risk factors accompanying the CH in these men and women. A total of 78 individuals with CH were identified which suggested a prevalence among Turkish adults of 6.6% in men and 5.2% in women, thus indicaling that an estimated 2 million Turks, comprising l.lm men and 0.9m women, harbor this metabolic abnonnality. Differences in the mean values between groups were evaluated for statistical significance. CH emerged in women at a more advanced age by about 10 years than the general population whereas it did so at a similar (marginally younger) age in men, and its prevalence in women was less common by one-fifth. CH appeared to manifest clinically with different patterns in the two genders in regard to the associated risk factors. While the association of central obesity was shared in both genders, low levels of HDLcholesterol were the only accompaniment among women. By contrast, men with CH exhibited significantly, and at times markedly, elevated levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood fibrinogen and a tendeney to diabetes, while their levels of HDL-cholesterol remained normal. The observation of the emergence with different elinical patterns in the genders in Turkish adults merits to be confırrned and the possible underlying reasons to be investigated in the future.