Hyperlipidemias: Lentzas Y

Panagiotakos DB, Pitsavos C, Skoumas Y, Lentzas Y, Papadimitriou L, Chrysohoou C, Stefanadis C. · Department of Dietetics - Nutrition, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece. · Lipids Health Dis. · Pubmed #18377643 links to  free full text

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: In this work we evaluated the 5-year incidence of hypercholesterolemia, in a sample of cardiovascular disease free adult men and women from Greece. We also evaluated the association of several socio-demographic, dietary and lifestyle habits on the incidence of this disorder. METHODS: 1514 men and 1528 women (>18 y) without any clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease, living in Attica area, Greece, were enrolled in the ATTICA study from May 2001 to December 2002. The sampling was random, multi-stage, and included information about various socio-demographic, lifestyle (diet, exercise, smoking etc), biological (lipids, and inflammatory markers), and clinical characteristics of the participants. In 2006, a group of experts performed the 5-year follow-up through telephone calls or personal visits (941 of the 3042 (31%) participants were lost to follow-up). Hypercholesterolemia, among people who had normal blood lipids at initial examination, was defined as fasting total cholesterol levels > 200 mg/dl or use of lipids lowering agents (NCEP ATPIII). RESULTS: The 5-year incidence of hypercholesterolemia was 23.7% (n = 127) in men and 17.7% (n = 110) in women (p for gender differences < 0.001). Multi-adjusted logistic regression analysis which revealed that increased age (odds ratio = 1.05, p < 0.001), waist circumference (odds ratio = 1.02, p = 0.03), fasting blood glucose (odds ratio = 1.01, p = 0.08) and apolipoprotein B (odds ratio = 1.02, p = 0.001) levels, were the most significant baseline predictors of developing hypercholesterolemia within a 5-year period. CONCLUSION: Incidence of hypercholesterolemia was high in both genders, emphasizing the burden of this disorder at population level. Aging, increased waist circumference, fasting blood glucose and apolipoprotein B levels were the most significant baseline predictors of hypercholesterolemia.

Yannakoulia M, Panagiotakos D, Pitsavos C, Lentzas Y, Chrysohoou C, Skoumas I, Stefanadis C. · Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, El. Venizelou 70, Athens 17671, Greece. · Public Health Nutr. · Pubmed #18325138 No free full text.

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the 5-year incidence of obesity in a sample of CVD-free adults and investigate the potential effect of several sociodemographic and lifestyle habits on weight change and obesity incidence in these individuals. METHODS: Men (n 1514) and women (n 1528) (>18 years) without any clinical evidence of CVD, living in the Attica area of Greece, were enrolled in the ATTICA study from May 2001 to December 2002. The sampling was random, multistage and included information about various sociodemographic, lifestyle (diet, exercise and smoking), biochemical and clinical characteristics. In 2006, the 5-year follow-up was performed through telephone calls or personal visits. Data from the 1364 participants are analysed in the present work. RESULTS: The 5-year incidence of obesity was 21.8 % in men and 11.9 % in women. The ratio of men to women revealed that more men than women developed obesity, while more women than men became overweight during the follow-up period. It was found that men were 1.6 times more likely to develop obesity compared with women; abnormal waist circumference, smoking habits and the presence of hypercholesterolaemia increased the risk for developing obesity, irrespective of age and baseline lifestyle characteristics of the participants. In the multivariate analysis, no association was detected between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and incidence of obesity in initially normal-weight individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity remains a serious health problem for the Greek population; the alarming rates of excess body weight continue to increase. Preventive measures should be urgently addressed, targeting particularly those with metabolic risk factors.