This study found that the prevalence of dyslipidemia was 28.6% in the elderly in Wuwei, of which the incidence was 15.61% in males and 13.02% in females. It showed that the incidence of dyslipidemia in males was significantly higher than that in females, and the difference was statistically significant. Next, according to the proportion of related dyslipidemia types obtained from the included data, the highest incidence of dyslipidemia is low HDL-C, and the lowest incidence is high TG combined with low HDL-C. It is the same as the result that the highest incidence of dyslipidemia diseases is low HDL-C among the general population by some researches [6]. However, it is inconsistent with the constituent ratio of dyslipidemia in the elderly in Zhongshan City in the study [7]. The cause of this difference may be related to regional factors or dietary habits, and the specific reason needs to be further studied.
Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that age, gender, overweight/obesity, hyperglycemia, and high AST are independent risk factors for dyslipidemia in elderly patients. Also, the epidemiological research report of dyslipidemia pointed out that there are differences in the incidence of different ages and different genders, and this is consistent with the conclusions drawn from our study. The results of the analysis also found that elderly women had a 1.14-fold higher risk of dyslipidemia than men. The loss of estrogen's protective effect on lipid metabolism or associated changes in endocrine metabolism after menopause in elder women may be responsible for this result [8, 9]. Therefore, the prevention and treatment of dyslipidemia in elder women should be strengthened in clinical practice.
The results of this study indicated that the risk of dyslipidemia is higher at the age of 70–80 years than that at the age of 60–70 years, and the risk of disease is reduced after the age of 80. But in previous existing studies, the reported age levels of the high incidence of dyslipidemia vary, and the mechanism of changes in blood lipid levels with age has not been clarified [10].
Overweight/obesity is also a risk factor for dyslipidemia, while underweight patients have a low risk of dyslipidemia, and it indicates that dyslipidemia is associated with obesity. Insulin resistance in obese subjects reduces LDL-C level and reduces lipoprotein lipase activity, both of which cause slow clearance of very-low-density lipoprotein, TC, LDL-C, etc., thereby triggering abnormal lipid changes [11].
Previous studies have found that elder people with abnormal liver function have an increased risk of dyslipidemia, and the two are mutually causal [12]. Our study demonstrated that ALT, a diagnostic indicator of liver function, is a risk factor for dyslipidemia, which is the same as the conclusion of the previous conclusion. The liver is the main organ for the breakdown and synthesis of blood lipids; After it injury, the rate of blood lipid degradation is slowed down and the lipid part in the blood cannot be cleaned in time. Excessive deposition occurs in the hepatocytes. Inflammatory necrosis and cellular fibrosis are induced after the activation of related cells [13]. Therefore, attention should be paid to the treatment of liver dysfunction in the elderly group with liver dysfunction to reduce the occurrence of dyslipidemia.
Previous studies have indicated that smoking and alcohol consumption are independent risk factors for dyslipidemia [14–16]. However, this study did not find an effect of smoking and alcohol consumption on dyslipidemia. The possible reason for the different conclusions may be that this physical examination data recorded the frequency of alcohol consumption and smoking but did not clearly record the amount of smoking and alcohol consumed.