Dyslipidemia and obesity are especially prevalent in populations with Amerindian backgrounds, such as Mexican–Americans, which predispose these populations to cardiovascular disease

Dyslipidemia is a highly prevalent (53%) cardiovascular risk factor in the United States that will drastically increase medical and economic burdens in the subsequent decades if prevention and treatment cannot be better tailored for those most susceptible. In addition to socioeconomic status, the prevalence of lipid disorders also varies among ethnic groups, with Hispanics being more prone to dyslipidemia than any of the other US groups. With 40% of Mexican–American men and 35% of women exhibiting high triglycerides (TGs), a large portion of the population has a high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), especially as a direct causal relationship between hypertriglyceridemia and CVD was recently demonstrated. Strikingly, the decreasing rate of CVD currently observed in Europeans does not extend to Hispanic-origin populations, as exemplified by the four times higher incidence of CVD among the Amerindians when compared with Europeans.