Hypercholesterolemia statistics tell us about the number of adults in the United States with total blood cholesterol levels greater than 200 mg/dL, the baseline level for high-risk hypercholesterolemia.
This information is the latest on hypercholesterolemia statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics, 1999-2004.
More than 105 million adults in the United States have total blood cholesterol levels greater than 200 mg/dL. About one in three people is at high risk. Of this group, more than 36 million adults have extremely high-risk cholesterol levels greater than 240 mg/dL.
For men age 20 and older, approximately 48% of white men, 45% of black men, and 50% of Hispanic men have hypercholesterolemia, or high blood cholesterol.
For women age 20 and older, approximately 50% of Hispanic women, 42% of Black women, and 50% of White women have hypercholesterolemia, or high blood cholesterol.
High-risk levels of LDL cholesterol, the so-called “bad cholesterol,” range from 30-40% for both men and women. But when it comes to HDL, or “good cholesterol,” more than twice as many men as women have high-risk levels.
Men between the ages of 35 and 74 have more than twice the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia than men under 34 years of age. Women ages 45 to 74 have more than twice the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia as women younger than 44, and women ages 65 to 74 actually have four times the prevalence of younger women younger than 44.
Elevated blood cholesterol levels are consistently associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease and other life-threatening cardiovascular and cerebrovascular damage, including fatal strokes.
Although there are successful treatments, prevention is always the most cost-effective solution to health problems. In addition, prevention provides broad-spectrum benefits that enhance both the physical and psychological spheres of our lives.
The lifelong habits of weight management, eating nutritious foods, daily exercise, addiction control, including tobacco, and stress management can take time to learn, but the benefits can add many healthy and useful years to your life. Research also shows that an easy habit that can help control cholesterol is to add green tea every day. Here’s some information on green tea and cholesterol, including 7 important ways to protect yourself against cholesterol damage.
If we want to help protect ourselves from dangerously high blood cholesterol levels, we all need to start early with regular preventative habits. Hypercholesterolemia statistics show us that preventive action should be promoted from the age of 20 for men and 30 for women, if not before.
