Many people with high cholesterol not getting treatment
Less than 40 percent of people with severe elevations in cholesterol are being prescribed appropriate drug treatment, according to a nationally representative study reported in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) journal Circulation.
Data from the 1999-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was used to estimate prevalence rates of self-reported screening, awareness and statin therapy among U.S. adults age 20 and older with severely elevated LDL or “bad cholesterol” levels of 190 mg/dL or higher. In addition, they considered a subgroup of patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disorder that causes extreme elevations in cholesterol leading to an increased risk of early cardiovascular disease.