Lipids in Health and Disease (Mar 2009)

Increased body mass and depressive symptomatology are associated with hypercholesterolemia, among elderly individuals; results from the MEDIS study

  • Makri Kornilia,
  • Metallinos George,
  • Papairakleous Natassa,
  • Katsarou Alexia,
  • Micheli Mary,
  • Bountziouka Vassiliki,
  • Zeimbekis Akis,
  • Lionis Christos,
  • Tyrovolas Stefanos,
  • Polychronopoulos Evangelos,
  • Panagiotakos Demosthenes B

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-511X-8-10
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
p. 10

Abstract

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Abstract Background Hypercholesterolemia is one of the most important factors causing cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of the present work was to evaluate the relationships between socio-demographic, clinical, lifestyle and depression status and the presence of hypercholesterolemia, among elderly individuals without known CVD. Methods During 2005–2007, 1190 elderly (aged 65 to 100 years) men and women (from Cyprus, Mitilini, Samothraki, Cephalonia, Crete, Lemnos, Corfu and Zakynthos) were enrolled. Socio-demographic, clinical and lifestyle factors were assessed through standard procedures. Symptoms of depression were evaluated using the short-form of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS, range 0–15). Dietary habits were assessed through a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Hypercholesterolemia was defined as total serum cholesterol > 200 mg/dL or use of lipids lowering medication. Results 44.6% of males and 61.9% of females had hypercholesterolemia (p Conclusion A considerable proportion of our elderly sample had hypercholesterolemia, while 1/3 of them were untreated. Furthermore, presence of hypercholesterolemia was correlated with depressive symptomatology and increased BMI.