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December 16, 2015
Half of Americans Meeting High LDL Cholesterol Criteria
Don’t Take Statins

Atlanta—One of the primary goals of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Million Hearts initiative is getting 65% of Americans to manage their high levels of LDL cholesterol by 2017. New data reveals how far the country still needs to go to meet that threshold.

In a report published in a recent issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), researchers from the CDC report that, while more than a third of American adults are eligible to take cholesterol-lowering medications under the current guidelines or were already taking them, nearly half of them are not. The gap is especially acute among blacks and Mexican Americans, according to the CDC.

The good news is that data from 2007 through 2014 showed a decline in the number of Americans with high blood levels of cholesterol, while a report last year indicated an increase in use of cholesterol-lowering medications, i.e., statins, from 2003 to 2012, rising from 20% to 28%. (In the recent study, nearly 90% of those receiving medication were taking a statin.)

Still, the researchers warn, too few Americans are treating high LDL cholesterol.

“Nearly 800,000 people die in the U.S. each year from cardiovascular diseases—that’s one in every three deaths—and high cholesterol continues to be a major risk factor,” said Carla Mercado, PhD, of CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. “This study reveals opportunities to reduce existing disparities through targeted patient education and cholesterol management programs.”

The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommend cholesterol-lowering medication for four groups of adults:

• People with heart disease, a prior heart attack or some types of stroke, or angina
• People with LDL cholesterol levels of 190 mg/dL or more
• People ages 40 to 75 with diabetes and LDL cholesterol levels of 70 to 189 mg/dL
• People ages 40 to 75 with LDL cholesterol levels of 70 to 189 mg/dL and an estimated 10-year risk of heart disease of 7.5% or more

For the CDC study, researchers used data from the 2005-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys to determine that, overall, 36.7% of U.S. adults—representing 78.1 million people age 21 or older—were eligible for cholesterol-lowering medication or already taking them. Within this group, 55.5% were on a statin or other cholesterol-lowering medication and 46.6% reported making lifestyle changes. At the same time, 37.1% reported making lifestyle modifications while taking medication, but 35.5% said they did neither.

A difference in medication usage was found by gender, race, and ethnicity, with a higher percentage of eligible women on medication compared to men. The lowest percentages were for Mexican-Americans—24.2% eligible for or already on medication with 47.1% of those patients being treated—and African-Americans—39.5% eligible for or already on medication with 46% of those patients being treated—This compares to white Americans, a group wherein 38.4% were eligible for or already on medication and 58% were receiving treatment.


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