Gender heterogeneity in dyslipidemia prevalence, trends with age and associated factors in middle age rural Chinese

Abstract Background Heterogeneity should be carefully addressed to facilitate establishment of effective population-level blood lipid management. The primary aim of the study was to investigate gender heterogeneity in prevalence of dyslipidemia, including trends with age and associated factors in middle age rural Chinese. Methods This is a cross-sectional study based on a baseline investigation of a population-based randomized controlled trial in rural China, involving 26,378 permanent residents of age 45–69. The age-specific prevalence of dyslipidemia was estimated for men and women, and the trends of prevalence with age were compared. Logistic regression was used to explore the factors associated with prevalent risk of dyslipidemia. Results The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia was significantly higher in females than in males for borderline high and above (BHA) total cholesterol (TC ≥ 200 mg/dL), BHA triglycerides (TG ≥ 150 mg/dL) and BHA low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C ≥ 130 mg/dL), but was lower for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C