Abstract:
Background: Hyperlipidemia is becoming a burden to the adult population of the world
especially, in middle income and low-income countries like Sri Lanka. Mainly undergraduates
of all universities badly practice unhealthy dietary patterns and the risk for having
hyperlipidemia can be increased with time.
Objective: To determine the association of dietary habits with lipid profile parameters of final
year undergraduates of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura
Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 71 final year undergraduates aged
24-27 years from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Socio-demographic characteristics
and dietary data of all participants were collected, using a self-administered questionnaire.
Total cholesterol, triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels of all participants
were analyzed by MISPA VIVA semi-automated analyzer after taking 3 mL of 12-hour fasting
blood sample. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were calculated by the Friedwald
equation. Dietary fat and cholesterol were calculated using Nutrisurvey software. Data analysis
was done using the Pearson correlation. The cut-off levels published in the 3rd report of
National Cholesterol Education Programme (NCEP) were used to interpret the lipid profile
parameters.
Results: There were 47 of females and 24 of males in the study population. The prevalence of
hyperlipidemia was 19.71%. The percentages of subjects with hypercholesterolemia,
hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL level and high LDL level in the population were 5.63%,
2.81%, 61.97% and 19.71% respectively. There were statistically significant associations of
dietary fat with total serum cholesterol (r = 0.59, p = 0.001), triglyceride (r = 0.33, p = 0.005),
LDL (r = 0.54 p = 0.001), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) (r = 0.33, p = 0.004) and total
cholesterol/HDL (r = 0.32, p = 0.006). There were statistically significant associations of
dietary cholesterol with total serum cholesterol (r = 0.73 p = 0.001), triglyceride (r = 0.30, p =
0.002), LDL (r = 0.68, p = 0.001),VLDL (r = 0.40, p = 0.001) and total cholesterol/HDL (r =
0.40, p = 0.001).
Conclusions: A significant proportion of final year undergraduates had hyperlipidemia. The
dietary habits of final year university students have a significant effect on lipid profile
parameters.
