How Long Have You Lived with High Cholesterol?

Long-term high cholesterol significantly increases lifetime risk for heart disease, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.

The longer you live with high cholesterol levels, the higher your risk for heart disease as you age. According to this study, for every ten years cholesterol is mildly elevated between the ages of 35 to 55, heart disease risk may increase 40 percent.

It’s suggested adults with longstanding mild or moderately high cholesterol levels, might benefit from more aggressive treatment plans.

How was this increased risk determined?

Data from the Framingham Heart Study, which began in 1948, was studied by researchers. A group of 1,478 adults without heart disease at age 55 were evaluated to determine what length of time each lived with high cholesterol. They were broken into segments of no high cholesterol, high cholesterol for one to ten years, and high cholesterol for 11 to 20 years. This group was then followed for 20 years, ages 55 to 75, to see how high cholesterol levels impacted their risk of heart disease development. Beginning at age 55, there were 389 participants who had lived with high cholesterol for 10 years, 577 lived with cholesterol 11 to 20 years, and 512 participants did not have high cholesterol.

Research results indicate increased heart disease risk with longer exposure to high cholesterol levels.

For example, participants with high cholesterol for 11 to 20 years before the age of 55 had a 16.5 percent overall risk of heart disease.

Those with one to ten years of high cholesterol exposure had an 8.1 percent risk.

Participants without high cholesterol had a 4.4 percent risk for heart disease.

It was found that each decade of high cholesterol increased risk of heart disease 39 percent.

What should this mean to you?

Living with even mildly elevated cholesterol levels appears to have a cumulative effect on your heart disease risk. Even if your cholesterol is only slightly elevated you should still take it seriously and implement changes to promote normal cholesterol levels.

Proactive steps you can take:

1. Participate in cholesterol screenings.
2. Follow up with your doctor on lab work if levels are elevated.
3. Implement necessary diet and lifestyle changes to promote lower levels.

Keep in mind that the steps you need to take to lower triglyceride levels differs from diet changes that will lower LDL cholesterol levels. Know your numbers and then learn the diet changes that will have the greatest impact for your situation.

As you work to lower cholesterol levels, utilize the free e-course How to Lower Cholesterol in 8 Simple Steps as http://lowercholesterolwithlisa.com.

All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD

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