Associations of behavioral risk factors with blood lipids profile in a sample of adults in Lebanon -

Abstract

Non-communicable diseases (NCD) notably cardiovascular diseases (CVD),are dramatically growing in prevalence worldwide, and becoming a main cause of mortality in developed and developing countries. The lifestyle shift towards smoking, physical inactivity, and alcohol consumption is related to the incidence, mortality, and risk factors for CVD.The objective of this study was to determine the association of cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, and alcohol consumption, with the fasting serum Total Cholesterol (TC), LDL-cholesterol LDL-C, HDL-cholesterol HDL-C, triglycerides (TG) and very low density lipoprotein VLDL.The sampling of this cross-sectional study was carried out through a random, multistage cluster sampling by governorates based on the age-gender distribution of the Lebanese Population. The housing units were the primary sampling units; those were chosen from urban and rural areas at each district level in Lebanon.The WHOSTEP-wise approach to Surveillance (STEPS) involving three STEPS was applied for the data collection. The three steps comprised a dietary, anthropometric and biochemical assessment. This cross sectional study included 363 Lebanese men and women aged 18 and older. Cigarette smoking was found to be prevalent among 33.3percent of the sample, alcohol consumption among 41percent and physical inactivity among 18.8percent of men and women of the sample surveyed. Hypercholesterolemia was found in 22.9percent, high LDL-C levels in 47.5percent, low HDL-C levels in 21.8percent, hypertriglyceridemia in 31.4percent, and high VLDL in 29.3percent of men and women. Of all the risk factors considered, only cigarette smoking was found to be associated with the lipid profile. After adjusting for all the risk factors, the number of cigarettes smokedwas significantly associated with VLDL (OR 2.7; CI 1.14-6.38) and TG (OR 3.51; CI 1.45-8.48).These findings indicate a positive correlation between the number of cigarette smoked and the blood lipids, proposing further investigations on behavioral correlates and NCD risk factors through large-scale prospec