Prevalence and distributions of severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) according to age, gender and clinic location among patients in the Malaysian primary care

Background: Adults with severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) may have familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and are at high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The prevalence of elevated LDL-c in primary care clinics in Malaysia is not known. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and distributions of severely elevated LDL-c among adult patients attending public primary care clinics in Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at 11 public primary care clinics in the central states of Malaysia, among adults ≥18 years old with LDL-c recorded in the electronic medical record. Sociodemographic and LDL-c data from 2018 to 2020 were extracted. Severely elevated LDL-c was defined as ≥4 mmol/L, which were further classified into: 4.0–4.9, 5.0–5.9, 6.0–6.9 and ≥ 7 mmol/L. Results: Out of 139,702 patients, 44,374 (31.8 %) had severely elevated LDL-c of ≥4 mmol/L of which the majority were females (56.7 %). The mean (±SD) age of patients with severely elevated LDL-c was younger at 56.3 (±13.2) years compared to those with LDL-c of