More than 20% of French people have a cholesterol level greater than 1.6g / l, the threshold for hypercholesterolemia. This is what the first national prevalence survey reveals.
The very first national survey on the prevalence of “bad cholesterol”, LDL cholesterol * has just been published. The national health nutrition study (ENNS) made it possible to calculate the rate of French people suffering from hypercholesterolemia. Admittedly, the data, published in the weekly epidemiological bulletin, date from 2006-2007 but they constitute the very first national photograph in the matter.
Overall, 20.1% of the French population had an LDLc greater than 1.6 g / l, the threshold from which hypercholesterolemia was defined. In addition, 12.5% of this national sample reported taking cholesterol treatment. “The overall prevalence of LDL hypercholesterolemia (measured or treated) was equal to 29.7%”, therefore indicate the authors of the publication. Men and women are on an equal footing in this area. On the other hand, the prevalence increases with the years. It reaches its peak between 45 and 54 years (36.7% above 1.6g / l).
These results are rather reassuring since in 2004, the national health nutrition program (PNNS) set a target of a 5% drop in average LDL cholesterolemia in the population. And the values revealed by this latest survey are already 10% below this target. These good results can be explained in two ways: the efforts to lower the cholesterol level have already started to bear fruit, or the high cholesterol level was previously a little overestimated.
The ENNS study also shows that screening for hypercholesterolemia is very widespread. Eight in ten people say they have had at least one cholesterol test since the age of 20. And between 45 and 54 years old, 90% of the population was entitled to such an examination. As for lipid-lowering drugs, they are also very widespread. In 2006, 12.5% of the population were treated with these drugs. Two-thirds were statins. However, this ENNS study clearly shows that an LDLc level greater than 1.6 g / l is obviously not synonymous with drug treatment. Indeed, 60% of French people who have cholesterol do not take either fibrate or statin.
* LDL lipoproteins deposit cholesterol on the artery walls and cause atheroma plaques. This cholesterol therefore tends to clog the arteries.
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