Lipid abnormalities including hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and mixed hyperlipidemia are risk factors for heart attack and stroke. It is important to understand what genetic and lifestyle factors predispose to these lipid abnormalities and the associated cardiovascular risk. Previous studies have focused on genetic or lifestyle factors contributed to these abnormalities, but a comprehensive study addressing both in the same cohort is lacking. Additionally, these studies have been affected by several biases such as referral bias which means that only patients who were referred to specialty clinics were often studied. Such patients are not representative of the broader population. Using UK Biobank, we will be able to identify lifestyle and genetic factors related to these dyslipidemias, relatively free of referral bias. We will also quantify the risk of heart attack, stroke, and peripheral circulation disease due to these disorders.
