RESUMO
Considering the importance of plasma lipids in the frequency of coronary artery disease, a knowledge of the disturbances of the prevalence of this significant factor in different societies is of immense importance. Thus in this paper the prevalence of lipid profile disturbances were evaluated in the people of Tehran. In this survey, 10180 cases that were once randomly chosen for Tehran Blood Pressure Study" were invited for blood and urine tests. Among these, 2592 [25.9%] cases including 1454 women [56.1%] and 1138 men [42.9%] accepted the invitation and the results of their lipid profile studies are shown here. 28.9% of cases had total cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or more and 31.2% had cholesterol levels between 200 and 239 mg/dL. The LDL-Cholesterol levels were also measured in these cases, 1.8% of them had levels equal to or higher than 160mg/dL, and 35.9% were between 130 and 159mg/dL. Women had significantly higher LDL-C Levels than men [P=0.0001]. About 10% of cases had HDL Cholesterol levels below 35 mg/dL. Men had significantly lower HDL-C levels than women [P=0.0001]. The mean total cholesterol in women [216 mg/Dl] and men [213 mg/dL] had no significant difference but mean triglyceride in men [183.2 mg/dL] was significantly higher than in women [155.6 mg/dL]. This article also reviewed most studies in this field in our country and also compared the results with some other countries. Overall, at least 36.6% of Tehran citizens had at least one of the two risk factors: i.e., high total cholesterol and/or low HDL-C levels, showing the high prevalence of this problem in Tehran citizens and necessitating serious attempts to solve the problem