Advances in medical sciences
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Classical rather than genetic risk factors account for high cardiovascular disease prevalence in Lithuania: A cross-sectional population study.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality accounts for 54% of all deaths in Lithuania, making it the highest among all of the European Union countries. We evaluated the prevalence of several CVD risk factors, including lifestyle, blood biochemistry and genetic predisposition to determine the reasons behind significantly increased CVD prevalence in Lithuania. ⋯ High BMI and poor population plasma lipid profile are the major contributing factors to high CVD mortality and morbidity in Lithuania. Smoking, alcohol consumption and preliminary genetic predisposition results do not explain the difference in CVD mortality between the Lithuanian and wider European populations. CVD prevention programmes in Lithuania should primarily focus on weight loss and improving blood lipid control.