Lipid Profile in Hypertensive Patients Receiving Treatment in Federal Medical Centre Owerri, Nigeria.

A total of 100 hypertensive patients from the Federal Medical Center, Owerri, (FMC), were investigated to determine the relationship between total cholesterol (TC), HDL-cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and three anthropometric parameters: waist circumference (WC) waist-hip ratio (WHR) and body mass index (BMI). 50 apparently healthy students of Evan Enwerem University were recruited as control subjects. In hypertensive subjects, the mean (+ standard deviation) obtained for the various parameters were TC, 6.05 (+0.77) mmol/L, HDL cholesterol, 1.03 (+0.44) mmol/L, LDL cholesterol 3.40 (+0.72) mmol/L, WC 95.77 (+17.20) cm, WHR 0.95 (+0.16) and BMI 32.3 (+6.62) kg/m2. There was a statistical significant difference (p<0.05) between the means of WC, BMI, TC and LDL cholesterol of hypertensive and control subjects. The correlation of the three anthropometric parameters (BMI, WC and WHR) with TC and LDL cholesterol was significantly (p<0.05) positive. While a significant negative correlation was observed between HDL cholesterol and the three anthropometric parameters (BMI, WC and WHR). Also, a positive correlation was observed between age and TC and LDL cholesterol of hypertensive patients. It can then be concluded that an increase in the anthropometric parameters (BMI, WC and WHR) is accompanied by an increase in TC and LDL cholesterol.