Cholesterol Levels High in China, as in U.S.

Newswise — Tulane University researchers report that one in three adults between 35 and 74 years of age in mainland China has borderline high or high total cholesterol levels and one in four has borderline high or high LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol). In real numbers, over 155 million Chinese adults have increased total cholesterol and over 117 million Chinese adults have increased LDL cholesterol. The results of the study, authored by Tulane epidemiologist Jiang He and colleagues, are available in the July 27 edition of the journal Circulation.

"Our research showed that a very high proportion of adult population in China has increased total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels," He says. "More serious, of those who have high cholesterol, only a few were aware of the problem, received treatment, and had their cholesterol under control."

"Traditionally, heart disease has not been a major cause of death in China. However, deaths from heart disease have been rapidly increasing in recent years, and we believe that can be attributed in part to large numbers of people with untreated high cholesterol. As it is in the United States, heart disease is a leading killer worldwide. If China does not start to address the problem of high cholesterol, heart disease will increase as a social burden," He adds.

He and his colleagues conducted a national survey of cardiovascular disease risk factors in China between 2000 and 2001. Data from a total of 15,540 adults from 20 sites throughout China were collected to assess the prevalence of high cholesterol as well as treatment and awareness of heart disease risk factors.

According to He, the rise in cholesterol levels may be due to rapid economic growth and the related diet and lifestyle changes. The data indicates that the greatest increase occurred in regions with the fastest economic growth.