Most Americans with high blood pressure and cholesterol are not being treated effectively, the CDC says
One out of every three adult Americans has high cholesterol levels and two-thirds of them do not have it under control, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. Similarly, one out of every three adults has high blood pressure and half of them do not have it under control. High blood pressure and high cholesterol are two of the major risk factors for heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in the United States, killing 800,000 people every year. Overall, 100 million Americans have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or both, and that has serious health and economic consequences for the country, according to the new CDC report released in an early version of the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The conditions cost the country $300 billion per year in direct medical costs alone -- $1 out of every $6 spent for healthcare -- and that number is expected to triple in the next 20 years, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the CDC director. “The bottom line is, high blood pressure and cholesterol are out of control.”
The data for the study came from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which interviewed and examined 11,154 participants over the age of 18 between 2005 and 2008. The data may be somewhat conservative because it did not include the elderly residing in nursing homes and other institutions, who have a high incidence of age-related hypertension.
Blood pressure should be less than 120/80, and requires management if it is higher than 140/90. LDL cholesterol (also known as bad cholesterol) should be less than 160 for people without heart disease or diabetes; less than 130 for people without heart disease or diabetes but with two or more other risk factors for heart disease; and below 100 for people with heart disease or diabetes.
During the period of the study, 68 million adult Americans had high blood pressure, about the same number as a decade ago. Of those, 48 million were receiving drugs for their condition and 31 million had their condition under control. Surprisingly, 86% of those with uncontrolled blood pressure had insurance, suggesting that they simply did not take advantage of it -- most likely because hypertension generally does not exhibit any symptoms.
An estimated 71 million Americans had high cholesterol levels during the study period, but just 34 million were being treated and only 23 million had their cholesterol levels under control. The proportion being treated had grown from 28.4% a decade earlier, suggesting significant progress in the area, Frieden said, and the prevalence of control increased from 14.6% to 33.2%. Among those with uncontrolled cholesterol levels, 82.8% reported having some form of insurance.
In a Tuesday news conference, Frieden had a message for doctors: “Controlling blood pressure and cholesterol is one of, if not the, most important thing you can do for your patient.” He also called for increased efforts to reduce sodium in food, both in processed foods and in restaurants. Reducing average daily sodium intake from 3,400 milligram to 2,300 milligrams could reduce hypertension by as many as 11 million cases, and reducing it to 1,500 milligrams per day could reduce hypertension by an additional 16.4 million cases.
