Dyslipidemia in Patients with a Cardiovascular Risk and Disease at the University Teaching Hospital of Yaoundé, Cameroon

Abstract

<i>Objective</i>. To determine the frequency of lipid abnormalities in patients with a cardiovascular risk and disease at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) of Yaoundé. <i>Materials and Methods</i>. We conducted a cross-sectional study from 1 March to 31 May 2015 at the UTH of Yaoundé. We included all patients seen in the outpatient department with a diagnosis of a cardiovascular disease or a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Patients who accepted to participate in the study were asked to answer a questionnaire; after that a blood sample was taken for lipid profile. An informed consent was signed by all the participants and the study has received approval from the national ethic committee. <i>Results</i>. We recruited 264 patients of which 119 were men and 145 were women with a sex ratio of 0.82. Mean age was 61.36 years. The frequency of lipid profiles abnormalities was as follows: low HDL cholesterol (44.3%), hypertriglyceridemia (18.9%), high LDL cholesterol (3.8%), and high total cholesterol 3.4%). Hypertriglyceridemia was strongly associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. <i>Conclusion</i>. Low levels of HDL cholesterol and hypertriglyceridemia are more prevalent in our study population. More studies are needed to confirm this finding in our environment.