title: High-risk profile in a region with extremely elevated cardiovascular mortality.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases have shown a remarkable decline in many western countries, cardiovascular mortality in Lithuania has remained high. It is widely accepted that half of the decline in cardiovascular mortality can be attributed to favourable changes in modifiable risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2006, the Lithuanian High Cardiovascular Risk Programme was started. A two-level approach--primary health care institutions and specialised cardiovascular prevention units--was applied. The cardiovascular risk profile was evaluated for a group of 17,031 middle-aged subjects enrolled into the programme at a primary level and 2908 at a specialised level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the persons examined, 61.8% (10,519) were female. Arterial hypertension was present in 60.2% of the subjects. Dyslipidaemia was present in 88.8%. Total cholesterol was 6.02 ± 1.23 mmol/L, LDL cholesterol 3.74 ± 1.09 mmol/L, HDL cholesterol 1.53 ± 0.52 mmol/L, and triglycerides 1.61 ± 1.27 mmol/L. Diabetes mellitus was found in 10.3%, abdominal obesity in 45.4%, and metabolic syndrome in 43.8% of cases. These values were even greater in high-risk subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In middle-aged subjects the prevalence of dyslipidaemia, arterial hypertension, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome was found to be high. We can roughly state that almost nine out of ten middle-aged subjects in Lithuania have established dyslipidaemia, every second one has established arterial hypertension, and four out of ten are obese. Hence, these are the main risk factors that should be considered first of all in daily clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Vilnius University, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Aleksandras
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laucevičius
authors.forename: Egidija
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rinkūnienė
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Skorniakov
authors.forename: Zaneta
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Petrulionienė
authors.forename: Vytautas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kasiulevičius
authors.forename: Dalius
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jatužis
authors.forename: Ligita
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ryliškytė
authors.forename: Jolita
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Badarienė
authors.forename: Jūratė
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klumbienė
authors.forename: Rimvydas
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Slapikas
authors.forename: Romas
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kizlaitis
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D050171:Dyslipidemias / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D008097:Lithuania; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors