HHS HealthBeat (January 1, 2010)

Better on cholesterol?

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Americans seem to be doing better about controlling their cholesterol – but some who know they should do more don’t act on what they know. Researcher Elena Kuklina of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw that in data on more than 7,000 people ages 20 and older.

Kuklina says the proportion with high levels of LDL cholesterol fell from about 32 percent in 1999-2000 to about 21 percent in 2005-2006. And she says more people had been screened for cholesterol problems than researchers had expected.

But she says:

[Elena Kuklina speaks] "We were surprised to find out 40 percent of them had been screened, diagnosed – but were untreated or inadequately treated."

The study was in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011