Prevalence of dyslipidemia in patients with type 2 diabetes in Jordan

To determine the frequency and patterns of dyslipidemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and to estimate the effects of sociodemographic and clinical variables on dyslipidemia.

The setting took place in The National Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics (NCDEG) at the University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. The NCDEG is the only referral center in the country; therefore, the patients represent the population in different parts of the country. A cross-sectional design was used. A total of 702 patients with DM from the NCDEG aged > or =20 years were consecutively enrolled between June 2005 and July 2006. Medical record abstraction of sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory data was performed.

The frequency of hypercholesterolemia was 77.2%, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was 83.9%, high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) was 91.5%, and hypertriglyceridemia was 83.1%. Females had greater abnormalities in lipid profiles. High LDL-cholesterol was the most common dyslipidemia in combination (91.5%) and in isolation (12.8%). Gender and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) predicted high total cholesterol; age and hypothyroidism predicted low HDL-cholesterol, gender predicted high LDL-cholesterol; and use of beta-blockers predicted high triglycerides.

Over 90% of patients with type 2 DM had one or more types of dyslipidemia. The most common dyslipidemia in our study was high LDL-cholesterol and high triglycerides as reported in the literature. We recommend aggressive drug management, education, counseling, and behavioral interventions.