Abdominal obesity, blood glucose and apolipoprotein B levels are the best predictors of the incidence of hypercholesterolemia (2001-2006) among healthy adults: the ATTICA study.
OBJECTIVE
In this work we evaluated the 5-year incidence of hypercholesterolemia, in a sample of cardiovascular disease free adult men and women from Greece. We also evaluated the association of several socio-demographic, dietary and lifestyle habits on the incidence of this disorder.


METHODS
1514 men and 1528 women (>18 y) without any clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease, living in Attica area, Greece, were enrolled in the ATTICA study from May 2001 to December 2002. The sampling was random, multi-stage, and included information about various socio-demographic, lifestyle (diet, exercise, smoking etc), biological (lipids, and inflammatory markers), and clinical characteristics of the participants. In 2006, a group of experts performed the 5-year follow-up through telephone calls or personal visits (941 of the 3042 (31%) participants were lost to follow-up). Hypercholesterolemia, among people who had normal blood lipids at initial examination, was defined as fasting total cholesterol levels > 200 mg/dl or use of lipids lowering agents (NCEP ATPIII).


RESULTS
The 5-year incidence of hypercholesterolemia was 23.7% (n = 127) in men and 17.7% (n = 110) in women (p for gender differences < 0.001). Multi-adjusted logistic regression analysis which revealed that increased age (odds ratio = 1.05, p < 0.001), waist circumference (odds ratio = 1.02, p = 0.03), fasting blood glucose (odds ratio = 1.01, p = 0.08) and apolipoprotein B (odds ratio = 1.02, p = 0.001) levels, were the most significant baseline predictors of developing hypercholesterolemia within a 5-year period.


CONCLUSIONS
Incidence of hypercholesterolemia was high in both genders, emphasizing the burden of this disorder at population level. Aging, increased waist circumference, fasting blood glucose and apolipoprotein B levels were the most significant baseline predictors of hypercholesterolemia.
Panagiotakos
Demosthenes B
DB
Department of Dietetics - Nutrition, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece. dbpanag@hua.gr
Pitsavos
Christos
C
Skoumas
Yannis
Y
Lentzas
Yannis
Y
Papadimitriou
Labros
L
Chrysohoou
Christina
C
Stefanadis
Christodoulos
C
D050153:Abdominal Fat; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001055:Apolipoproteins B / Q000097:blood*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism*; D011446:Prospective Studies
D001055:Apolipoproteins B; D001786:Blood Glucose