Association of Moderate and Severe Hypertriglyceridemia with Obesity, Diabetes Mellitus and Vascular Disease in the Spanish Working Population: Results of the ICARIA Study

Aim: To study the prevalence, risk factors, and vascular disease associated with moderate and severe hypertriglyceridemia in an active working population.

Design And Methods: Cross-sectional study of 594,701 workers from all Spanish geographical areas, occupation sectors, ages, and sexes who underwent a yearly routine checkup. Data collected from participants included age, sex, anthropometric measurements, vascular risk factors, lipidic profile and basic biochemical analysis, from a fasting blood sample. A cardiovascular risk assessment was performed.

Results: The study population included 428,334 males and 166,367 females, mean age 36+/-10 years. A total of 95,673 (16%) workers had mild hypertriglyceridemia (HTg) (Tg 150-399mg/dL), 7,081 (1.1%) had moderate HTg (400-999mg/dL), and 224 (0.03%) had severe HTg (>or=1000mg/dL). Of workers with hypertriglyceridemia, 90% were male. Age, obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes, alcohol consumption, and vascular disease were associated with hypertriglyceridemia. Cardiovascular risk gradually increased for each HTg category. Amongst risk factors, the major independent predictor of mild-HTg was obesity (OR 2.42, CI 95% 2.37-2.48), whereas diabetes was a predictor of moderate HTg (OR 3.64, CI 95% 3.17-4.18) and severe HTg (OR 7.35, CI 95% 4.27-12.66). In multivariate analyses, HTg was gradually associated with vascular disease, even after adjusting for other risk factors.

Conclusion: In this working population, preventive programs for HTg and associated vascular disease should consider obesity-diabetes control as its first objective.