title: Classical rather than genetic risk factors account for high cardiovascular disease prevalence in Lithuania: A cross-sectional population study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality accounts for 54% of all deaths in Lithuania, making it the highest among all of the European Union countries. We evaluated the prevalence of several CVD risk factors, including lifestyle, blood biochemistry and genetic predisposition to determine the reasons behind significantly increased CVD prevalence in Lithuania.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total 435 volunteers of Lithuanian ethnicity and stable geographic settlement for 3 generations, had their anthropometric, biochemical and behavioural risk factors measured. A randomly selected sample of 166 volunteers had their 60 CVD risk alleles genotyped. The prevalence of risk alleles and cumulative CVD genetic risk score were compared with population of North-West European origin (CEU) using data from the phase 3 HapMap project.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CVD was present in 33.8% of study volunteers, 84% of participants consumed alcohol, 21% were current smokers and only 30% of participants engaged in higher levels of physical activity. Also, the average BMI (males 28.3±4.3kg/m2, females 27.3±5.0kg/m2), total cholesterol (males 6.1±1.2mmol/L, females 6.2±1.0mmol/L) and LDL-cholesterol (males 4.1±1.1mmol/L, females 4.1±1.0mmol/L) were above the normal values. The cumulative genetic susceptibility to develop CVD in Lithuanians was only 1.4% higher than in CEU population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High BMI and poor population plasma lipid profile are the major contributing factors to high CVD mortality and morbidity in Lithuania. Smoking, alcohol consumption and preliminary genetic predisposition results do not explain the difference in CVD mortality between the Lithuanian and wider European populations. CVD prevention programmes in Lithuania should primarily focus on weight loss and improving blood lipid control.
authors.affiliation: Clinics of Internal Diseases, Family Medicine and Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania. Electronic address: neringa.burokiene@santa.lt.
authors.forename: Neringa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Burokienė
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Ingrida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Domarkienė
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Laima
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ambrozaitytė
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Ingrida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Uktverytė
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Raimonda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Meškienė
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Dovilė
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karčiauskaitė
authors.affiliation: Clinics of Internal Diseases, Family Medicine and Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Vytautas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kasiulevičius
authors.affiliation: Clinics of Internal Diseases, Family Medicine and Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Virginijus
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Šapoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Vaidutis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kučinskas
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Zita Aušrelė
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Kučinskienė
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008019:Life Style; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008097:Lithuania / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D008055:Lipids; D002784:Cholesterol
keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Dyslipidemia; Genotypes; Lifestyle risk reduction; Lithuania