Many of those who need them not taking cholesterol-lowering medications

The estimate is based on the larger number of Americans now eligible to be treated for high LDL cholesterol, based on guidelines adopted in 2013.

“Nearly 800,000 people die in the US each year from cardiovascular diseases – that’s one in every three deaths – and high cholesterol continues to be a major risk factor”, said Dr. Carla Mercado, a scientist in CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.

CDC researchers examined data from the 2005-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. In addition, 35.5 percent of Americans confessed not taking medication or practicing lifestyle changes that could help lower their cholesterol levels. It was found that 39.5% of American blacks are considered eligible for such treatment, and 54% of the eligible United States blacks were not taking any cholesterol lowering medications.

Many of those eligible for cholesterol-lowering interventions are not taking them up.

Fewer women were eligible for medication, but among those who met the guidelines more are taking medication than men.

According to Heath Day, researchers figured out that blacks and Hispanics are less likely than whites to take medications to lower the levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol in their bodies. Cholesterol-lowering treatment generally with a low-cost statin medication has been linked to lower down the rates of heart attack and stroke. This puts them at an increased risk of multiple cardiovascular disorders and diseases, including heart attack and stroke.

People 21 and older who have a very high level of bad cholesterol (190 mg/dL or higher). For the study, the team defined high total cholesterol as 240 mg/dL or more, and HDL “good” cholesterol as 40 mg/dL or less. But the cholesterol treatment gaps observed by the CDC were far more pronounced among minorities in the United States than among white Americans.

The new study urges public health authorities to educate the public more on preventing heart disease and stroke.

The big factor may be having a reliable source of medical care, as 94.3 percent of African Americans who did not have access to a regular source of medical care did not take medication for high cholesterol. More expansive than those in place previously, those guidelines added as many as 10 million American adults who were previously not candidates for cholesterol drugs to the pool of those eligible.

Have LDL cholesterol levels of 70 to 189 mg/dL, are ages 40 to 75, and have at least a 7.5 percent predicted risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years.