High cholesterol is prevalent among nearly one in three American adults and can seriously increase your risk of heart disease. But while effective cholesterol-lowering drugs exist, nearly half of Americans who probably should take them don’t, Medscape reports.
From 2005 to 2012, just 55.5 percent of more than 78 million Americans who could take cholesterol-lowering drugs did, according to the latest issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. All told, 46.6 percent of American were making lifestyle modifications to control their cholesterol, 37.1 percent were taking drugs and making lifestyle changes, and 35.5 percent were not taking action of any kind to control their cholesterol levels.
Demographically, women were slightly more likely to take cholesterol-lowering medication than men (58.6 percent to 52.9 percent), and whites were significantly more likely to be on the drugs than Mexican Americans or blacks, 58 percent to 47.1 percent and 46 percent, respectively.
Finally, and perhaps unsurprisingly, those in the lowest income demographics were the least likely to use cholesterol lowering drugs – 46.5 percent – compared to those in higher income brackets at 58.9 percent.
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