Dyslipidemias and obesity in Mexico

Objective. To describe in a national sample 1) the mean total cholesterol (TC), HDL-cholesterol (HDLc) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations, 2) the prevalence of the most common lipid abnormalities and 3) the association between obesity and these conditions. Material and Methods. We analyzed the nationally representative, cross-sectional Mexican Health Survey (2000). The final analytic sample used consisted of 2 351 individuals at fasting state. TC, HDLc and TG were determined. BMI was classified according to the WHO cutoff points. Sex-specific means and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated by age group for TC, HDLc and TG. The prevalence of: a) hypercholesterolemia (HC), b) hypoalphalipoproteinemia (HA), c) hypertriglyceridemia (HT), d) HT with HA and e) HC with HT was calculated adjusting for age. Multivariate logistic regression models were estimated to analyze the association of obesity to the prevalence of dyslipidemias. Results. The mean TC, HDLc, and TG concentrations were: 197.5 mg/dl (95% CI= 194.0, 201.1), 38.4 mg/dl (95% CI= 37.2, 39.5) and 181.7 mg/dl (95% CI= 172.7, 190.6), respectively. HC was present in 40.5% of the adult females (95% CI=35.5, 45.4) and 44.6 of the adult males (95% CI=37.7, 51.4); HA was the most prevalent form of dyslipidemia, present in 64.7% (95% CI=58.7, 70.8) and 61.4% (95% CI=54.4, 68.3) of females and males, respectively. Obesity increased ~1.4 times the probability ratio (PR) of having HC among women and 1.9 among men. Conclusion. TC concentrations from our study in Mexico were similar to those found for Mexican-Americans and the prevalence of HC was slightly lower than the one reported in the US;