Background and purpose: Coronary heart disease is one of the most common reasons for mortality in many countries. High lipid levels such as high total cholesterol are recognized as the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Various studies investigated the prevalence of dyslipidemia in Iran, so, in current study we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all studies assessing the prevalence of dyslipidemia in Iran.

Materials and methods: The search was conducted using different databases such as Pubmed, SID, Magiran, Iranmedex, Irandoc, Medlib, and Google Scholar. The search keywords and terms included total cholesterol, prevalence, meta-analysis, and Iran. Finally 41 articles that were published during 1998-2011 were selected. Assigning weights to the studies was done based on number of samples and the prevalence was investigated using binomial distribution. Data was analyzed applying random effects model in STATA (version 10) and R software. Also, publication bias was assessed by funnel plot.

Results: Total number of samples in selected articles were 205913. Prevalence of total cholesterol &ge 200 mg/dl was 38% (CI95% = 30-46) which was 41% in male and 43% in female. The prevalence of cholesterol &ge 240 mg/dl (CI95%) was 17% (15-19) 15% in male and 18% in female. This prevalence was seen in both urban (18%) and rural (23%) areas.

Conclusion: Precise information and knowledge on prevalence of lipid profile disorders could help clinicians and policy makers to plan for suitable interventional programs that decrease the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases.