What Are The Risks With High Cholesterol – Please note: This article was published over two years ago, so some information may be out of date. If you have questions about your health, always contact a healthcare professional.
Lifetime exposure to high blood cholesterol can increase the risk of stroke or heart attack, and new scientific guidelines say managing this waxy, fat-like substance in the blood should be a concern at all ages.
What Are The Risks With High Cholesterol
, are intended to help healthcare providers prevent, diagnose, and treat high cholesterol. A panel of 24 health and science experts from the American Health and Human Services Association and 11 other health organizations wrote the recommendations of science-based guidelines for people with very specific conditions and risks.
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“The evidence is overwhelming,” said Dr. Scott M. Grundy, chairman of the guideline writing committee and professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Basically, no one is saying that cholesterol is not important. Now the whole world understands: he is important.”
Nearly one in three American adults has high levels of LDL, the so-called “bad” cholesterol that contributes to fatty deposits and narrowing of the arteries, called atherosclerosis. Global and US studies suggest that the optimal level is below 100 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) for healthy people, and research trials have shown that people at increased risk of disease are less likely to develop disease and strokes when given medication. lower elevated LDL levels.
“The LDL cholesterol particle is really the central molecule involved in the biology of this disease,” said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, editorial board member and chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. “It’s important to understand the life course of exposure and the context of other risk factors in which it occurs.”
Along with well-established risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and high blood sugar, the guidelines suggest taking into account “risk-increasing factors” such as family history and other health conditions to provide a better outlook for a person’s overall risk over the next 10 years.
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The guidelines recommend that doctors use a calculator to make a detailed assessment of a person’s risk of disease over 10 years and help create a personalized plan. For most patients who cannot control the disease with diet and exercise, a cholesterol-lowering drug called a statin can be used. For very high-risk patients, including those who already have coronary heart disease, stroke, or very high cholesterol caused by genetic conditions, additional drugs called ezetimibe and PCSK9 inhibitors may be used.
“The truth about clinical medicine is that there is no such thing as black and white.” Everything is gray,” says Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist. “So the emphasis in this document is to make sure that the patient and doctor have well-informed discussions about the benefits and potential risks of drug therapy… If a patient has had a seizure or stroke, we know that these people will benefit. When there’s someone who hasn’t event, then the decision is more difficult and a detailed, personalized discussion is very important.”
For people aged 40 to 75 without apparent disease, the guidelines use four risk classifications: low, borderline, intermediate and high.
When a patient is in the middle zone, and sometimes on the edge, the guidelines suggest that doctors have an in-depth discussion with patients about the potential benefits of statin drugs, taking into account all risk factors. If uncertainty continues about whether to use a statin, doctors may consider digging deeper with a test called coronary artery calcium screening, or CAC. The CAC score is calculated based on taking a CT scan and determining how much calcium plaque has accumulated in the arteries.
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For younger adults ages 20 to 39, the guidelines emphasize a healthy lifestyle, maintaining a healthy diet and weight, and getting regular exercise, Grundy said.
Due to the lack of long-term research in this younger age group, statin recommendations are reserved for those at higher risk.
But Grundy said that doesn’t mean these patients should be ignored, because young adults with risk factors like high cholesterol often already show the early stages of atherosclerosis.
“We think doctors need to pay more attention to young adults,” said Grundy, who is also chief of the metabolic unit at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Dallas. “If their cholesterol is high, they need to do the best they can by eating the right diet, keeping their weight off… They may not need a statin, but they certainly need attention.”
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Because of the potentially dangerous effects of lifelong exposure to high cholesterol, particularly LDL, the guidelines suggest that physicians should consider screening children by age 2 who have a family history of early-onset disease or high cholesterol. In children with no known risk factors, doctors may recommend testing between ages 9 and 11 and then again between ages 17 and 21.
“This catches those with severe cholesterol disorders who require early treatment with lifestyle changes or, rarely, for those over 10, medication,” said Dr. Sarah D. de Ferranti, chief of ambulatory cardiology and director of preventive cardiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Children’s Hospital “It’s important, even at a young age, that people lead a healthy lifestyle and understand and maintain healthy cholesterol levels.
It’s a “lifespan approach” to thinking about cholesterol, said de Ferranti, who also served on the guideline writing committee.
“As a pediatrician, this comes naturally because we always want to see our patients into adulthood with the best possible chance for a long, healthy life,” he said. People in their 20s in normal health have a better chance of reaching age 50 with normal cardiovascular health factors.
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That’s the reality Carl Korfmacher of Wisconsin experienced just before his 10th birthday, when he watched his 37-year-old father die of a stroke. Before that, his father, who was also a smoker, learned that he had hardened arteries due to high cholesterol.
Then Korfmacher and his siblings checked their cholesterol. He began a lifelong diet, exercise, and later medication for high cholesterol.
Six years ago, when her own children were 12 and 8, they were also tested. Their cholesterol levels were also so high that doctors put them on low doses of statin drugs. They are doing well today.
“There’s no reason not to check it out,” Korfmacher, 55, said. “It’s a risk factor. Just because you have high cholesterol doesn’t mean you’re going to die like my dad, but you should exercise a lot and not smoke. “If you’re overweight and looking at a screen, those things are just as important.”
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HEALTH DISCLAIMER: This site and its services do not constitute the practice of medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always discuss diagnosis and treatment with your healthcare provider, including your specific medical needs. If you have or suspect you have a medical problem or condition, contact a qualified healthcare professional immediately. If you are in the United States and have a medical emergency, call 911 or call 911 right away. With all the bad publicity cholesterol gets, people are often surprised to learn that it is actually necessary for our existence.
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What is also surprising is that our body produces cholesterol naturally. But cholesterol is not all good, nor is it all bad: it’s a complex topic worth learning more about.
Cholesterol is a substance that is produced in the liver and is vital to human life. You can also get cholesterol through food.
These are important functions, all of which depend on the presence of cholesterol. But too much of a good thing is not good at all.
There are different types of cholesterol that can affect your health. They can be determined through screening and blood tests.
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When people talk about cholesterol, they often use the terms “LDL and HDL.” Both are lipoproteins, which are compounds made of fat and protein that are responsible for transport