Dyslipidemia and the Treatment of Lipid Disorders in African Americans

Herman A. Taylor, Ermeg L. Akylbekova, Robert J. Garrison, Daniel Sarpong, Jennifer Joe, Evelyn Walker, Sharon B. Wyatt, Michael W. Steffes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Despite the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease documented among the African-American population, there has been little emphasis on the role of dyslipidemia as a prominent risk factor in this large subpopulation. Questions of medication efficacy also have been raised. Together, these factors may have affected awareness, diagnosis, and treatment rates. Methods and Results: Dyslipidemia was defined as the presence of either hypercholesterolemia or hypertriglyceridemia using National Cholesterol Education Program III criteria and the fasting lipid measurements, self-reported treatment history, and medication survey available from 5302 Jackson Heart Study participants. Dyslipidemia was more common in men (compared with women) aged less than 50 years and increased with age in both genders. Hypercholesterolemia prevalence rates approached 50% in women aged more than 65 years. The lifestyle-related attributes found to be related to prevalence were being overweight and less physically active, and all disease status variables exhibited significant (P < .05) associations. Awareness of hypercholesterolemia is approximately 55% or more in both men and women aged more than 35 years. Treatment rates lag far behind awareness, particularly in younger adult men, and less than 50% of women and men aged less than 65 years were treated for hypercholesterolemia. Conclusion: Higher rates of identification and effective treatment of dyslipidemia are clearly needed in this, and probably other African-American communities. Despite the less than optimal treatment, the identification and importance of the known cardiovascular disease states and risk factors in these analyses suggest the adoption of National Cholesterol Education Program III "high-risk strategy" algorithms in treatment recommendations and decisions by providers is occurring.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)454-463
Number of pages10
JournalAmerican Journal of Medicine
Volume122
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2009

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This research was supported by National Institutes of Health contracts N01-HC-95170, N01-HC-95171, and N01-HC-95172, provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Keywords

  • African Americans
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Cholesterol
  • Dyslipidemia
  • Risk factors

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Dyslipidemia and the Treatment of Lipid Disorders in African Americans'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this