Dyslipidemia and Associated Factors Among Patients Suspected to Have Infection at Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma, Ethiopia.

Background: Dyslipidemia is a group of plasma lipid and lipoprotein abnormality that is metabolically associated, and it is categorized by low HDL-C and increased LDL-C, TGs, and total cholesterol (TC) levels. Colonization of the stomach by () causes chronic inflammation of the stomach wall which can change some biochemical factors in the patient. On the association of infection and its contributions to change in serum lipid profile, different studies reported varying outcomes.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of dyslipidemia and associated factors among patients suspected for infection in the outpatient department of Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma, Ethiopia.

Materials And Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 03 to April 05, 2019, at Jimma University Medical Center on 369 suspected patients. The study subjects were selected by convenient sampling technique. About 5mL of blood was collected from an overnight fasting individual. Data were edited, coded, and entered into Epidata version 3.1 and exported to (SPSS) version 25 for analysis. Bivariate analysis was used to screen those variables which were candidates for multivariate analysis.

Results: From the total study subjects 77.5% had at least one abnormality in lipid profile and 87.2% of positive patients had at least one abnormality in lipid profile. Our study demonstrated that there was significant increase of mean ± SD of TC, TG, and LDL-C in positive patients than negative patients (-value < 0.05). After adjusting for traditional dyslipidemia risk factors, infection was an independent predictor of dyslipidemia (AOR 2.628, 95% CI 1.477-4.678, =0.001).

Conclusion: An increase in prevalence of dyslipidemia among positive patients indicates infected patients have a possibility of altered lipid profile, therefore assessment of lipid profile in infected patients is recommended.