Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May 13;79(1):77.
doi: 10.1186/s13690-021-00600-9.

Prevalence and associated factors of dyslipidaemia among university workers in Southeast Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Adaobi M Okafor  1 , Elizabeth K Ngwu  1 , Rufina N B Ayogu  2
Affiliations

Prevalence and associated factors of dyslipidaemia among university workers in Southeast Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

Adaobi M Okafor et al. Arch Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The job one does for a living may increase ones propensity to cardiovascular diseases due to many associated risk factors. University staff may be at high risk of dyslipidaemia, a major cardiovascular disease risk factor. This study assessed prevalence of dyslipidaemia and its associated factors among the staff of University of Nigeria, Nsukka campus, Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 386 workers selected through a 4-stage sampling technique was conducted. Data were obtained through questionnaire and lipid profile determination. Bivariate analysis using Cochran and Mantel-Haenszel test was used to determine associations between dyslipidaemia and selected variables. Odds ratios and significance at p < 0.05 were reported.

Results: Respondents who were 46 years and above accounted for 51.3 % while 95.3 % had tertiary education. Administrative/technical staff were 76.4 % while academic staff were only 23.6 %; 73.8 % were senior staff and 26.2 % were junior staff. More than half (60.4 %) consumed alcohol above recommendation. Lipid biomarkers of the workers were not sex dependent (p > 0.05). Few (23.4 and 6.5 %) of the respondents had borderline high and high total cholesterol values, respectively. Whereas none (0.0 %) had low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), borderline low values were observed among 1.3 %. High low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) affected 1.3 %. Triglyceride was high among 3.9 %; 20.8 % had high atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and 2.6 % had impaired fasting blood glucose (IFBG). Dyslipidaemia had a prevalence of 54.5 % with female dominance. Hypercholesterolemia with high LDL-c was the commonest combined dyslipidaemia observed (7.8 %). Dyslipidaemia was dependent on hypercholesterolemia (OR = 0.352, 95 % C.I.=0.245-0.505), high LDL-c (OR = 0.462, 95 % C.I.=0.355-0.600) and hypertriglyceridemia (OR = 0.462, 95 % C.I.=0.355-0.600). Alcohol intake above normal was associated with almost 6 times higher risk of dyslipidaemia (OR = 5.625, 95 % C.I.=1.062-29.799).

Conclusions: Dyslipidaemia is a problem among the workers with hypercholesterolemia in combination with high LDL-c and hypertriglyceridemia compounding the problem. Nutrition education and physical activity are advocated to prevent cardiovascular events among the university staff.

Keywords: Hypercholesterolemia; Nigeria; atherogenic index; high low density lipoprotein; hypertriglyceridemia; low high density lipoprotein; university staff.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of dyslipidaemia and combined dyslipidaemia by sex
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Opoku S, Gan Y, Fu W, Chen D, Addo-yobo E, Trofimovitch D, et al. Prevalence and risk factors for dyslipidemia among adults in rural and urban China: findings from the China National Stroke Screening and prevention project (CNSSPP). BMC Pub Health. 2019; 19: 1500. 10.1186/s12889-019-7827-5. Accessed 22 Aug 2020. - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO. Raised cholesterol: Situation and trends. 2020. https://www.who.int/gho/ncd/risk_factors/cholesterol_mean_text/en/ Accessed 22 Aug 2020.
    1. Musunuru K. Atherogenic dyslipidemia: cardiovascular risk and dietary intervention. Lipids. 2010;45(10):907–14. doi: 10.1007/s11745-010-3408-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mcloon CJ, Osman F, Glennon P, Lim PB, Hayat SA. Global epidemiology and incidence of cardiovascular disease. In Papageorgiou N, editor. Cardiovascular diseases: Genetic susceptibility, environmental factors and their interaction. 2016; 57–96. 10.1016/B978-0-12-803312-8.00004-5. Accessed 22 Aug 2020.
    1. Catalina-Romero C, Calvo E, Sanchez-Chaparro MA, Valdivielso P, Sainz JC, Cabrera M, et al. The relationship between job stress and dyslipidaemia. Scandinavian J Pub Health. 2013; 41(2): 142–149. 10.1177/1403494812470400 Accessed 22 Aug 2020. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources