About half of all American adults have a cholesterol level that's higher than recommended.1
Total cholesterol levels that are more than 200 milligrams per deciliter (abbreviated as mg/dL) are considered to be unhealthy. (Your total cholesterol count is the combination of levels of good high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and bad low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in your blood.)
Of all the American adults with high cholesterol, 1 in 7 has a cholesterol level that puts them at risk of getting heart disease (that is, their total cholesterol is higher than 240 mg/dL).2
To find out more about cholesterol levels see, How do doctors diagnose high cholesterol?
The research also tells us that:
- After the age of 50, more women have high cholesterol than men. One theory about this is that the rise in cholesterol among older women may be caused by a drop in levels of the hormone estrogen in their bodies. Estrogen is the main female sex hormone. Estrogen is thought to help keep cholesterol down.
- White Americans and Mexican-Americans are most likely to have high cholesterol, while American Indians are least likely to have high cholesterol. Black Americans and Japanese-Americans fall in the middle. Researchers are not sure why this is, but it may be due either to differences in genes (the basic units in the body's cells that control how they grow and behave) or in people's diets.
- Children can also have high cholesterol.2 3 4 5 6 7 One big study found that the average American child has a total cholesterol count of 165 mg/dL. That's just under the level considered to be heading toward unhealthy for children (which is 170 mg/dL).2 Because the average is high, it suggests that many children in the United States have unhealthy cholesterol levels, although it's not possible to say precisely how many there are.
- American Heart Association. Cholesterol statistics. Available at http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=536 (accessed on 16 January 2008).
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)III, 1988-94. National Center for Health Statistics. 1994.
- Knuiman JT, Westenbrink S, van der Heyden L, et al. Determinants of total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol in boys from Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, the Philippines and Ghana with special reference to diet. Human Nutrition, Clinical Nutrition. 1983; 37: 237-254.
- World Health Organization, Mathers CD. World Health Statistics Annual 1997-1999. World Health Organisation Mortality Database. 1999.
- Iwata F, Okada T, Harada K, et al. Coronary risk factors in school children in relation to their family history of coronary heart disease and hyperlipidemia. Acta Paediatrica. 1998; 40: 30-34.
- Knuiman JT, Hermus RJ, Hautvast JG. Serum total and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations in rural and urban boys from 16 countries. Atherosclerosis. 1980; 36: 529-537. 7417370
- Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Research Group. Mortality rates after 10.5 years for participants in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1990; 263: 1795-1801.
