Living Environment and Hypercholesterolemia: Case of Mono and Couffo Departments, Benin, in 2015

Introduction: Studies conducted in Benin have often not emphasized the living environment underlying hypercholesterolemia. The objective was to study the prevalence and factors associated with hypercholesterolemia in the Mono and Couffo departments in 2015 with consideration of the living environment. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study with an analytical aim that involved 2490 subjects aged 18 - 69 years, selected using a three-stage randomized sampling technique. Data were collected using the Personal Digital Assistant (WHO STEPS instrument) and analyzed according to STEPS recommendations using Epi-Info7.1.5.0 and SPSS20 software. The Chi-square test was used to compare proportions and the difference was considered significant for p < 0.05. Results: Out of 2490 respondents, 60.20% were women. The mean age was 36.14 ± 12.82 years. The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia was 4.7% (95% CI: [3.88 - 5.54]) and lower in the Couffo. Factors associated with hypercholesterolemia after multivariate analysis were harmful alcohol consumption, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity and overweight. Conclusions: Living environment was found to be one of the important factors to consider in strategies to control hypercholesterolemia in the Mono and Couffo departments.