Cholesterol Screening Rates Too Low in Young U.S. Adults: CDC

HealthDay News

Only about half of young adults in the United States undergo cholesterol screening, even though up to one-quarter of them have elevated levels of "bad" cholesterol, a new study has found.
 
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers analyzed data from nearly 2,600 young adults (men aged 20 to 35, women aged 20 to 45) who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol were present in 7 percent of the participants with no other heart disease risk factors, 12 percent of those with one other risk factor, and 26 percent of those with two or more other risk factors, the researchers found. However, the cholesterol screening rate for young adults is under 50 percent, they noted.

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