Background. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the main mortality cause in Lithuania. The Lithuanian CVD mortality rate is nearly two times higher as compared to the old member states of EU and it is possibly due to several reasons: different lifestyle habits and/or genetic factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between cardiovascular diseases, risk factors and biochemical markers of atherosclerosis in the Lithuanian population.
Methods. 435 patients (aged over 40 years) from the six ethnolinguistic groups representing Lithuania were investigated. The patients were interviewed using a specially created validated questionnaire comprising nutritional and lifestyle habits, family history, and health status. Biochemical blood parameters: total cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), fasting glucose, C reactive protein (CRP), Apo A1, Apo B, and lipoprotein (a) were tested using standardized procedures.
Results. In the studied population 147 patients were with cardiovascular diseases and 288 were healthy individuals. The significant differences between the groups of patients with and without CVD were found in those clinical and biochemical parameters: age, body mass and BMI, concentration of glucose, cholesterol, TG, HDL-C, LDL, CRP, ApoB and ApoA1/ApoB ratio.
Conclusions. In Lithuania reducing the CVD-related mortal ity is a primary health care priority. Our study demon- strated that high BMI and dyslipidaemia are the major contributing factors to country's CVD mortality and morbidity. Therefore, we recommend that CVD prevention programmes in Lithuania should emphasise the importance of lowering blood TC and LDL-C, reducing BMI and increasing the levels of physical activity.
LITGEN project (VP1-3.1-SMM-07-K-01-013) is funded by the European Social Fund under the Global Grant measure.
