Checks on people's cholesterol levels when they are still in their mid-20s could help reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks in later life, research published in leading medical journal The Lancet has revealed.
The study gathered data from almost 400,000 people in 19 countries, and is the first to establish a definite link between so-called bad cholesterol levels and the likelihood of health problems in middle age.
"Our research is the one of first studies to analyze data from hundreds of thousands of otherwise healthy participants over the span of several decades to assess the long-term risk of high levels of non-HDL(non-high density lipoprotein) cholesterol in the blood," said one of the report's authors, Frank Kee, from Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
"We are also among the first to provide robust estimates of the risks to young people aged under 45 years with high non-HDL cholesterol levels in their blood."
According to cholesterol charity Heart UK, HDL helps clear cholesterol from the arteries, while LDL, low density lipoprotein, clogs them up.
Non-HDL is the difference between the two amounts, plus other bad types of cholesterol. Ideally the figure should be as low as possible. It can often be measured by something as basic as a finger-prick blood test.
High levels detected in a patient under the age of 45 show a greater risk of stroke or heart disease by the age of 75 than similar levels detected at the age of 60, and increased awareness of this at an earlier age gives people time to make lifestyle changes, such as exercise, or take medication such as statins, which are generally given to older people, to help reduce that risk.
"We need to start it early," said another contributor, Stefan Blankenberg from Hamburg in Germany. "We should at least put into the (doctors') guidelines that non-HDL cholesterol determination should be an obligation. At a very young age－25 to 30. You need to know it."
Cholesterol levels are not always lifestyle-linked－sometimes younger people can find they have it for genetic reasons, in which case statins could be prescribed, although their effects in the longer term have not yet been tested. Dairy products and meat consumption can be major contributors to non-HDL cholesterol, so reduction in their consumption can also make a difference.
"In German schools we have large anti-smoking programs. We persuade populations not to smoke. We have no program to let people know about cholesterol," said Blankenberg. "The first thing I would do is establish a cholesterol knowledge program …for young adults the first remedy for high non-HDL cholesterol would be exercise and losing extra weight, followed by eating a healthier diet."
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