Information on Cholesterol

Diseases of the heart and blood vessels are the number 1 cause of death in the United States.  

Cholesterol lowering is important for young, middle-aged, and older adults. 1 out of every 2 men and 1 out of every 3 women will develop heart disease sometime in their life. Whether you have heart disease or want to prevent it, you can reduce your risk for having a heart attack by lowering your cholesterol level.

There are many factors that can affect your cholesterol level, including heredity, what you eat, weight, physical activity and exercise, age, sex, alcohol, and stress. To learn how these factors affect your cholesterol, click here. The Framingham Heart Study established that high blood cholesterol is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). Results of the Framingham study showed that the higher the cholesterol level, the greater the CHD risk. On the other end of the spectrum, CHD is uncommon at total cholesterol levels below 150 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). A direct link between high blood cholesterol and CHD has been confirmed by the Lipid Research Clinics-Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (1984), which showed that lowering total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels significantly reduces CHD. A series of more recent trials of cholesterol lowering using statin drugs have demonstrated conclusively that lowering total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol reduces the chance of having a heart attack, needing bypass surgery or angioplasty, and dying of CHD-related causes*.

For more information, visit the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute website or the Pharmacists Planning Service website.  

*Taken from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute website.