Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 22, 1992 TAG: 9203220087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MEMPHIS, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
A report by the national Centers for Disease Control said the percentage of people receiving treatment to lower cholesterol rose by 50 percent from 1988 to 1990.
But only one-third of the 36 percent of all Americans who need such treatment were getting it at the end of 1990, said Dr. Robert Anda of the Atlanta-based CDC.
"There are signs that rapid progress is being made, but there's a long way to go, because this is such an important problem," he said. "It would be nice if more young people were being screened and educated."
He presented his findings Friday at the American Heart Association's epidemiology conference.
Providing cholesterol-lowering treatment for those in need who aren't getting it could lower the nation's heart-disease rate dramatically, Anda said.
"There's the potential for it to make a great difference in heart-disease incidence," he said.
High cholesterol can be treated by reducing fat in the diet or through drugs.
The study found that the groups least likely to receive treatment for high cholesterol were men, blacks, the poor and the young.
Patricia J. Elmer, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and an organizer of the heart association conference, said doctors were not as aggressive as they should be in diagnosing and treating high cholesterol.
"I think we could do a lot better," Elmer said. "I think the public has caught on faster than the medical community" to the dangers of high cholesterol.
"Among 20- to 34-year-olds, about 60 percent had a missed opportunity, compared to 20 percent of people 65 and older," Anda said.
Missed opportunities also were common among women seeing obstetricians and gynecologists.
by CNB