Letters to the Editor: Comparison of blood lipid levels of people of Armenian and non-Armenian origin living in Istanbul, Turkey

In recent years, blood lipid profiles or risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ACD) of several minority groups living in a country were compared with those of the main ethnic group of that country (1). One of two major studies addressing blood lipid levels and other risk factors in the Turkish population is Turkish Heart Study and the other one is Turkish Adult Risk Factor Study (2, 3). However, studies are scarce examining lipid levels of Turkish citizens of different ethnic origin. One of such ethnic minority groups is Armenians and about 100.000 Armenians live in Turkey and majority of them live in Istanbul. Literature search in Medline/Pubmed and Embase databases using key words of “Armenia, Armenians, lipid profile, Armenian population, cardiovascular risk factors” revealed a limited number of studies published in English language (4).