44(5):576-578,2003 PUBLIC HEALTH Dyslipidemia in Outpatients at General Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana: Cross-sectional Study Benjamin A. Eghan Jr, Joseph W. Acheampong Department of Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, School of Medical Sciences, Kumasi, Ghana Aim. To determine the prevalence of dyslipidemia among hospital patients in Kumasi, Ghana, whose diet consists mostly of carbohydrates and little proteins, and assess the effect of age, sex, and the presence of hypertension and dia- betes mellitus on serum cholesterol concentration. Methods. The hospital-based study included 248 patients (145 women and 103 men) selected by strict random sam- pling from patients visiting Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital between May 1, 1999, and April 30, 2000. The patients were divided into four groups: patients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, both conditions, and without either dis- ease. We measured lipid concentration in the serum of patients and assessed its correlation with age, sex, body mass in- dex, and the presence or absence of diabetes mellitus or hypertension. Results. Almost half of the patients (45%) had serum total cholesterol concentration >5.17 mmol/L and 26% had also serum triglyceride concentration >1.69 mmol/L. High-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol dyslipidemia (HDL< 1.03 mmol/L) was found in 30.5% of the patients, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol dyslipidemia (LDL>2.58 mmol/L) in 72%. Serum total cholesterol concentration was significantly high in the patients with hyper- tension alone (p=0.01). LDL-cholesterol and serum triglyceride concentrations appeared higher in those who had both hypertension and diabetes, but this was not statistically significant. Serum HDL-cholesterol was higher in the group with diabetes alone but also failed to achieve statistical significance. Conclusion. Dyslipidemia is common in patients visiting hospital in Kumasi, although the regular diet is based on car- bohydrates and poor in fat. Steps are needed to curb lipid-related disorders. Key words: diabetes mellitus; Ghana; hyperlipidemia; hypertension; sex distribution Hyperlipidemia contributes to the process of ar- teriosclerosis, which develops even faster in the pres- ence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus (1). A re- duction in cholesterol concentration can delay the de- velopment and decrease the severity of coronary ath- erosclerosis and ischemic heart disease (2). Epidemio- logical studies showed that total serum cholesterol level increases with age in both men and women over the age of 20 (2). The cholesterol increase rate in men slows down after the age of 45-50, and cholesterol concentration seems to decline after the age of 70 (2). In women, the cholesterol level continues to rise until the age of 70 (2). It is also known that the mean total cholesterol in women aged between 50 and 70 exceeds that in men of similar age (2). The aim of our study was to determine the preva- lence of dyslipidemia in patients visiting the hospital in Kumasi and also investigate possible factors associ- ated with that disorder. Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region of Ghana, is the second largest city in Ghana with a population of about a million. Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi is the second largest hospital in Ghana. The people of Kumasi are mainly farmers, traders, and industrial workers. Their diet consists of carbohydrates and small amount of proteins. Main carbohydrate sources are plantains, cassava, and yams, whereas proteins come from beef, fish, and vegetables. Since such diets are poor in fat and lipids, we could expect lipid disorders to be rare in Kumasi population. Patients and Methods Patients The participants were selected by strict random sampling from the adult population visiting clinics at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for various problems between May 1, 1999, and April 30, 2000. Out of 248 participants in the study, 145 (58.6%) were women and 103 (41.4%) were men (Table 1). The mean ( ± standard deviation) age of participants was 52.9±12.3 576 www.cmj.hr