Background: Atherosclerosis and the side effects thereof are a major cause of mortality and morbidity in diabetic patients. Diabetic dyslipidemia is defined by a decrease in blood levels of HDL cholesterol and increases in triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. Diabetic dyslipidemia is atherogenic, inducing cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients at a frequency that is two to three times greater than that of nondiabetics.
Methods: This study analyzes the data from the first phase of the Yazd Healthy Heart Program, a community intervention project focused on the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Using the cluster sampling method, we analyzed data from 2000 subjects from Yazd, Iran, ranging in age from 20 to 74 years. Clinical and paraclinical data were recorded by trained health providers using a questionnaire with over 700 items.
Results: The most frequent lipid disturbance was TG>150 in 67.1% of the type-II diabetic patients (p<0.000), 54.6% of whom were unaware of their TG level. The mean lipid and TG levels are significantly higher (p<0.000). Furthermore, women as a group have higher mean cholesterol, LDL-C and HDL-C levels than men (p<0.000). Additionally, diabetic patients were more obese than the nondiabetic population. (p<0.000).
Conclusion: The high prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Yazd and hypertriglyceride-mia among diabetics in this city, in addition to the lack of awareness among more than half of these patients about their illness and diagnosis, indicate an urgent need to immediately control dyslipidemia in these high-risk patients.