Twenty-first century epidemiology of dyslipidemia in Greece: EMENO national epidemiological study

Background: Greece was recently reclassified from low-to medium-risk country in terms of cardiovas-cular disease, with 27% of cardiovascular deaths attributed to hypercholesterolemia. EMENO nationwide survey (2013-2016) assessed the epidemiology of dyslipidemia in the general population in Greece. Methods: A random sample of adults was drawn by multistage stratified random sampling based on 2011 census. Standardized questionnaires and blood tests for total cholesterol (TC), low-density (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides were used. Hypercholesterolemia was defined as TC >= 240/200 mg/dL and/or the use of lipid-lowering drugs, hyper-LDL-cholesterolemia as LDL-C >= 160/130/100 mg/dL and/or the use of drugs, hypo-HDL-cholesterolemia as HDL-C <40 mg/dL, and hypertriglyceridemia as triglycerides >= 150 mg/dL. Weighted analysis was applied to adjust for study design, age/sex distribution discrepancies between sample and population and nonresponse. Results: Of 6,006 individuals recruited, 4,298 were analyzed (mean [SD] age 49.2 [18.5] years, men 48.5%, BMI 28.2 [5.7] kg/m2). Mean TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, and TG were 193.9 [44.4], 118.5 [37.6], 49.1 [14.9], and 130.8 [94.4] mg/dL, respectively. The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia was 27.6/52.4% for thresholds >= 240/200 mg/dL, and of hyper-LDL-cholesterolemia was 26.3/46.7/74% for thresholds >= 160/130/100 mg/ dL, with no differences between sexes. The prevalence of hypo-HDL-cholesterolemia was 27.5% (men/ women 38.1/17.5%, p < 0.001) and of hypertriglyceridemia was 27.8% (men/women 32.6/23.4%, p < 0.001). Lipid-lowering drugs were used by 14.1% of the participants (men/women 12.6/15.6%, p < 0.001).

Automated summary

A nationwide survey conducted in Greece revealed that hypercholesterolemia is responsible for 27% of cardiovascular deaths. The study found that the Greek population generally has high cholesterol levels, with a significant proportion requiring lipid-lowering drugs.