OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of dyslipidemia among the Uyghur, Kazakh, and Han adults in Xinjiang Region and to analyze the features of distribution.

METHODS3625 Uygur residents, 1773 males and 1852 females, aged (42.89 ± 15.95) years old, 4148 Kazakh residents, 1649 males and 2499 females, aged (44.14 ± 13.27) years old, and 3733 Han residents, 1563 males and 2170 females, aged (49.66 ± 12.24) years old, were selected by stratified cluster random sampling method in year 2010, 11 506 adults in total. Questionnaire and physical examination were conducted, including fasting venous blood samples to test the levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C).

RESULTSThe levels of TG, TC, HDL-C and LDL-C were separately (1.31 ± 1.03), (4.44 ± 1.20), (1.41 ± 0.62), and (2.44 ± 0.81) mmol/L in the Uygur adults; separately (1.24 ± 0.99), (4.55 ± 1.31), (1.41 ± 0.62), and (2.40 ± 0.87) mmol/L in the Kazakh adults; and (1.62 ± 1.34), (4.60 ± 1.10), (1.16 ± 0.68), and (2.23 ± 0.93) mmol/L in the Han adults, respectively. The general prevalence of dyslipidemia in the Uygur, Kazakh, and Han adults were 42.4% (1537/3625), 31.6% (1311/4148), and 30.2% (1127/3733) respectively; while the age-standardized prevalence were separately 42.4%, 31.8%, and 28.2%. The prevalence of dyslipidemia in the Uygur adults was significantly higher than it of the Kazakh and Han adults, with statistical significance (χ(2) = 179.87, P < 0.01). The standardized prevalence of dyslipidemia in the Uygur males was 52.6%, significantly higher than it of the Kazakh and Han males (35.4% and 33.2%), with statistical significance (χ(2) = 159.19, P < 0.01). The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia among the Han adults was 17.3%, which was significantly higher than it among the Uyghur and Kazakh adults (χ(2) = 172.55, P < 0.01). The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia in Kazakh (6.9%) was higher than it in Uygur (5.2%), with statistical significance (χ(2) = 10.20, P < 0.01). The prevalence of low HDL-C hyperlipidemia in the above 3 ethnic were 33.6%, 20.8% and 11.1%, respectively; while Uygur was the highest (χ(2) = 552.82, P < 0.01), followed by Kazakh, which was higher than Han (χ(2) = 138.01, P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of high LDL-C hyperlipidemia among the adults of the 3 ethnics.

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence of dyslipidemia among the Uygur, Kazakh, and Han adults in Xinjiang were all higher than the national average prevalence, the distribution of dyslipidemia varied with ethnicity, age and sex.