Serum Lipid Profile Among Urban and Rural Bangladeshi Population

Background: There is lack of any evidence based comparative information of lipid profile level between urban and rural population in Bangladesh.   Methodology: Between April and September 2010; applying age stratified (every 5 years interval; 40 to 93 years) randomization technique, 132 individuals aged 40 years and above from the rural Mirzapur were enrolled. On the other hand, 396 (1:3 ratio) urban individuals of Dhaka, the capital city, within same age interval were randomly selected from a total of 3,179 individuals who attended the Clinical Laboratory of icddr, b in Dhaka to investigate their lipid profile, served as control group.   Results: Residents in urban area demonstrated significantly higher level of serum total cholesterol (TC) [rural (4.44 mmol/L) vs. urban (4.84 mmol/L); mean difference (95% CI) p value; -0.40 (-0.61, -0.18) <0.01], LDL cholesterol [2.74 vs. 3.00; -0.24 (-0.45, -0.04) 0.01], triglyceride (TG) [1.56 vs. 2.02; -0.45 (-0.65, -0.23) <0.01], TC:HDL [4.41 vs. 5.10; -0.64 (-0.91, -0.37)], and LDL:HDL [2.78 vs. 3.10; -0.31 (-0.53, -0.09)] compared to the rural population; however, serum HDL level [1.11 vs. 1.00; 0.11 (0.02, 0.21) 0.01], was found higher among rural population.   Conclusion: Findings of the study demonstrated significant higher levels of serum lipoprotein in urban than the rural population of Bangladesh.