Factors associated with hypercholesterolemia in older adults: A cross-sectional investigation

Objective: To investigate the factors associated with hypercholesterolemia in older adults residing in a small municipality in northeastern Brazil.

Methods: This is a population-based cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted with 232 older adults (women: 58.60%; men: 41.40%) in Aiquara, Bahia, Brazil. Independent variables included socioeconomic, behavioral, and health-related factors. The outcome was self-reported hypercholesterolemia (yes or no). Poisson regression with a robust estimator was used to calculate Prevalence Ratios (PR) and their respective 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) in the inferential analysis. Gross models were initially developed, followed by a hierarchical multiple explanatory model (Level 1: socioeconomic variables; Level 2: behavioral aspects; Level 3: health conditions).

Results: The observed prevalence of hypercholesterolemia was 34.50% (men: 21.90%; women: 43.40%). Additionally, a higher probability of hypercholesterolemia was observed in women (PR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.27-2.97); participants with high sedentary behavior (PR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.03-2.09); those with abdominal obesity (PR: 1.65; 95% CI: 1.06-2.57); and those with diabetes mellitus (PR: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.04-2.29).

Conclusion: The main results showed that female sex, high sedentary behavior, abdominal obesity, and diabetes mellitus were positively associated with hypercholesterolemia in the older population of the study.