Characteristics of Lipid Profiles in Indigenous Cardiac Outreach Program Cohort in Rural and Remote Communities in Queensland: A Snapshot After 10 years of Service

Abstract

Background: Remote and rural communities, especially Australian Indigenous communities, suffer from high burden of cardiovascular diseases and health care access disparity. Indigenous Cardiac Outreach Programme (ICOP) is an innovative culturally sensitive initiative to bridge the gap. We report a snapshot study into lipid profiles of our Indigenous Cardiac Outreach Programme cohort. Method: Point-of-care lipid profile results from 229 sequential patients in ICOP cohort were acquired between August 2016 to December 2016 across 21 ICOP clinic sites. The results were cross-referenced against medical records. Result: The mean age 53.8 years ranging from 15 to 99 years old with nearly half of the cohort is male (52%). Indigenous Australians represent a majority of our cohort (67.2%). Cardiovascular risk factors are highly prevalent (diabetes, 63%, hypertension 65.1%, dyslipidaemia 63.3% and current smoker, 29.7%) Approximately one-third (35.4%) already have established atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD). Our cohort has significantly less atherogenic lipid profile compared to the lipid profile of each of National, Queensland and Remote areas. (TC, 4.35; LDL 2.16; HDL1.23) The most encouraging result is 57% of our cohort who have established ASCVD achieved target LDL (LDL ≤ 1.8 mmol/L). This is comparable to multiple follow-up studies from developed countries. Conclusion: We believe an intensive and culturally appropriate community engagement and follow-up provides a strong platform for cardiovascular risk factor modifications, in this case, lipid management.