Lipid disorders in hospital attendants in Kumasi, Ghana.

BACKGROUND Lipid disorders are common worldwide and contribute to a significant proportion of the burden of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of lipid disorders among patients reporting at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, Ghana. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Directorate of Medicine and Polyclinic outpatient clinics of KATH. PARTICIPANTS A total of 424 patients, 20 years and over reporting for the first time to KATH were recruited. 77 had neither diabetes mellitus (DM) nor systemic hypertension (HPT) (controls), 94 had only DM, 109 had only HPT and 144 had both. METHODS A questionnaire was administered after informed consent. Anthropometric measurements were then taken and blood investigations including total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and triglycerides (TG) were done. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) was calculated using the Friedwald formula. The atherogenic index or ratio was the ratio of TC to HDL. RESULTS The prevalence of lipid abnormalities was 60% for high TC, 32% for high TG, 17% for low HDL and 61% for high LDL. The mean (± standard deviation) TC was 5.33 (± 1.31) mmol/L, mean TG was 1.52 (± 0.81) mmol/L, mean HDL was 1.65 (± 0.57) mmol/L and mean LDL was 3.42 (± 1.22) mmol/L. The mean atherogenic index was 3.40 and 9% of the participants had an atherogenic index more than or equal to 5. CONCLUSION The prevalence of lipid disorders was high in adult patients in Kumasi and there is the need to increase awareness, screening, detection, treatment and control of these disorders.