Dyslipidemia Prevalence
LATAM is characterized by its high racial diversity, especially in Brazil, which along with other socioeconomic factors have an impact on measured levels of LDL-C. The variation in the different lipoprotein levels among the countries in the region makes it very difficult to compare prevalence and type of dyslipidemia by country (1). Dyslipidemia control in the region is inefficient and awareness of the disease differs by demographics and socioeconomic status. In Brazil, the prevalence of self-reported high cholesterol levels was 12.5%, however, the measured prevalence of dyslipidemia was estimated to be 46.6% (23-24).
The established prevalence of high cholesterol levels > 200 mg/dL in adults older than 25 years of age in LATAM countries ranges from 30-60% of the population (1). A 2019 report by World Health Organization (WHO), comparing total cholesterol levels by region showed that LATAM has higher values compared to most other regions in the world (1). The established prevalence of high LDL-C for the region has been reviewed and is very difficult to establish due to scarce information. However, data on prevalence of hypercholesterolemia in different countries can be seen in Table 1 (25). In the INTERHEART study, alterations of the lipid profile were most frequent in controls from LATAM than the other regions studied (26).
Table 1. Prevalence of Dyslipidemia in different countries of LATAM