A total of 5207 subjects (2499 men and 2708 women), aged between 15 and 70 years, were asked to complete a checklist of study variables and patients’ blood sample results including sex (male, female), age (<30, 31-40, 41-50, >50), waist circumference (obese >90 cm for both sexes), fasting blood glucose (mg/dL), cholesterol (mg/dL), TG (mg/dL), HDL (mg/dL), and LDL (mg/dL) after obtaining informed consent. The protocol for the study was approved by the Research and Ethics Committee of Birjand University of Medical Sciences. The anthropometric measurements were determined by weighting scale and measuring tape. Based on the values of BMI, participants were classified as underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2), normal (BMI: 18.5-24.9 kg/m2), overweight (BMI: 25-29.9 kg/m2), and obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). After completing the checklist, fasting blood samples were collected and sent to the lab. Serum was separated and stored in a freezer at −20°C until testing.7 Atherogenic index (AI = LDL-C/HDL-C) and CRI (CRI = TC/HDL-C) were calculated for all subjects. Plasma lipid abnormality was based on the expert panel of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) cutoff values.8 (link) This study was approved by the research ethics committee of the university (Ethics Code 1392-09-22) and adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.
The test results and medical recommendations were given to the patients and after surveying the information and ensuring that they were correctly entered into the IBM SPSS software (version 22), descriptive information was presented using mean and standard error and then data were analyzed by independent sample t test, 1-way analysis of variance method and Pearson correlation. A P value of less than .05 was considered significant.