Prevalence of dyslipidemia in asymptomatic young adults attending a mhc in a tertiary hospital in Chennai

Study Objectives: To study the prevalence of dyslipidemia in young asymptomatic non- diabetic adults and to determine and correlate the significance of associated risk factors. Patients: This was a cross sectional study consisting of consecutively selected 500 asymptomatic non - diabetic adults aged between 20-40 years who presented themselves for a routine master health check up to Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, Chennai from September 1st 2011 - August 30th 2012. Patient information was collected with the help of the questionnaire after obtaining an informed consent and it included details such as; age, gender, anthropometric measurements, lifestyle related factors, clinical & family history, glucose and lipid analysis. Results: In our study, out the 500 asymptomatic young adults approximately 149 adults were found to have dyslipidemia by our broad case definition. Our study showed that elevated serum lipids were more prominent in 31-40 year age group as compared to ≤30 years, which means the risk of dyslipidemia increases as the age advances. Dyslipidemia was found most significant amongst the alcoholic and the smokers (p value being significant < 0.05). Prevalence was more in males indicating Indian men being at a higher risk for dyslipidemia. Body mass index correlated with hypertriglyceridemia (p value - 0.045). The pattern of dyslipidemia correlated significantly with the history of alcohol consumption and smoking. Conclusion: Dyslipidemia is more prevalent in young asymptomatic adults (31-40 years age group). Low HDL- Cholesterol was the most common pattern of dyslipidemia found being common among ≤ 30 years age group and history of alcohol consumption and smoking history contributed significantly towards the prevalence of dyslipidemia. BMI also predicted the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia. Increase in the age also predicted the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia in our study. Combination of lifestyle therapies and therapeutic intervention would help us in treatment and management of dyslipidemia.