Low awareness of lipid disorders amongst individuals despite their high prevalence

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) usually goes undetected until complications develop. Knowledge and awareness of cardiovascular risk factors, particularly lipid disorders, lead to earlier disease detection and risk factor intervention.

We sought to assess the awareness of lipid disorders in a population randomly screened for lipid abnormalities.

As part of a national awareness campaign, 360 individuals underwent lipid screening and completed a questionnaire regarding their awareness of cardiovascular risk factors.

We identified 240 (66%) individuals with a lipid disorder. Lipid disorders were unrelated to gender but increased sharply from 39% in those under 40 years of age to (71%) in those between 40 and 54 years and (75%) in those older than 55 years. They were more prevalent in those reporting diabetes (78%), hypertension (88%) and hypercholesterolaemia (90%) but not in smokers 62% versus non-smokers 68%. Awareness of abnormal lipids was present in only 34% of individuals overall but was higher in those with diabetes (70%) hypertension (64%) or in those with two or more risk factors (50%). Awareness of lipid disorders increased with age, being extremely low (8%) in those under 40 years of age and increasing to (28%), (45%) and (54%) in those aged 40 to 54 years, 55 to 70 years and older than 70 years, respectively. The biggest gap between the presence and awareness of lipid disorders occurred in the 40 to 54 year age group. There were significant correlations between the awareness of lipid disorders and the awareness of hypertension r = 0.27, p < 0.01 or diabetes r = 0.14, p < 0.05 but not of smoking r =  - 0.04 or family history of ASCVD r = 0.11.

Given the importance of early detection and intervention to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors, public education and increased screening are advisable, especially for lipid disorders in the youngerage groups.