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Bad Cholesterol Levels Drop, More Screening Needed
Reported December 25, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Even though the number of adults in the U.S.
with high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL or "bad"
cholesterol) decreased by about one-third between 1999 and 2006, many
at-risk adults still are not being screened for high cholesterol levels.
Elena V. Kuklina, M.D., Ph.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues investigated trends in the prevalence of
screening, current use of cholesterol-lowering medication, and high LDL
levels between 1999 and 2006. The researchers used data from the National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and restricted the study to
fasting participants age 20 years or older. The final study sample consisted
of 7,044 participants.
Overall prevalence for high LDL levels decreased from 31.5 percent in
1999-2000 to 21.2 percent in 2005-2006. Among participants with high LDL
levels, however, 35.5 percent were unscreened, 24.9 percent undiagnosed, and
39.6 percent untreated or inadequately treated in 2005-2006. In the
high-risk category, about one-fifth of participants who were eligible for
lipid-lowering drug therapy were not receiving it in 2005-2006.
"Self-reported use of lipid-lowering medications increased from 8 percent to
13.4 percent, but screening rates did not change significantly, remaining
less than 70 percent during the study periods," the authors wrote. They
added that one roadblock to improving screening rates may be the lack of
consensus among caregivers regarding the age at which screening should
begin.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), November 18,
2009 |
