OBJECTIVES:   Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death in the United State (US).  Both hyperlipidemia and hypertension are known risk factors for CVD.  Tobacco use augments this risk by lowering the HDL cholesterol, increasing blood clotting, and acutely elevating blood pressure. The objective of this study was to examine predictors of having both co-morbidities including demographic characteristics and smoking status METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using the NHANES 2007-2008 database, a stratified multistage probability sample of the civilian non-institutionalized US population. The outcome variable was defined as being diagnosed with both hypertension and hyperlipidemia based on the standardized interview conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)  among adults ≥ 18 years. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression were used to determine predictors having the combined diagnosis including the following independent variables:  gender, age, race, ethnicity, urban/rural status and smoking status. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 9.2. RESULTS:   The total sample included 33,994 individuals and the combined diagnosis of hypertension and hyperlipidemia was reported in 4.49% of the sample. Of these, 61.51% were females and 41% were aged between 60-75 years. Most (73.25%) of these patients were whites and more than half (54.75%) reported to have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, while 34.01% were current smokers. In the multivariate model, significant predictors of the combined diagnosis included female gender (OR= 0.689; 95% CI= 0.594 – 0.798; p<.0001), age 60-75 years vs. younger age (OR=1.627; 95% CI=1.296 – 2.042; p<.0001), Mexican American race vs. non-hispanics (OR= 0.611; 95% CI= 0.49 – 0.76; p<.0007) and current smokers. (OR=1.374; 95% CI=1.08-1.75; p<.0001). CONCLUSIONS:  Our findings emphasize the importance of developing effective intervention strategies that help smokers quit and may reduce prevalence of hyperlipidemia with hypertension along with the accompanying cardiovascular risk.