2.13 Prevalence of Elevated Cholesterol in Australia
John Smithson
Learning Outcomes
- explain the prevalence of raised cholesterol levels in western countries and identify the specific age brackets where prevalence peaks for both men and women.
- analyze the trends in cholesterol levels in Australia identifying the changes in prevalence and understanding the implications of these trends on public health.
- interpret age-related data on high cholesterol prevalence, describing the significant increase in cholesterol levels after the age of 45 and the gender differences observed in the data.
In western countries, up to two-thirds of the population has a total cholesterol > 5.0 mmol/L. The prevalence of raised cholesterol increases with age up to the 45-54 year bracket with an estimated 81% prevalence in men and 55-64 years for women.
In 2017-18 in Australia, 6.1% of all Australians (1.5 million people) had high cholesterol, which was a decline from 7.1% in 2014-15. The prevalence has fallen to a similar rate to that observed a decade ago in 2007-08 of 5.7%.
The same proportion of males and females had high cholesterol (6.1%). As with many health conditions, the prevalence of high cholesterol increases with age with a sharp increase from age 45 years. The proportion of people with high cholesterol doubled from age 45-54 years (6.8%) to 55-64 years (14.1%) and increased to one in five people aged 65 years and over (21.2%).
The following two graphs show the sharp rise in people with high cholesterol in 2017-18 – note in the figure below the sharp increase after the age of 44 years for both sexes.
In 2017–18 in Australia, adults aged 18 years and over who were obese were more than twice as likely as adults who were in the normal weight range to have high cholesterol (11.2% compared to 4.5%).
The figure above shows the dramatic association between obesity and elevated cholesterol levels. Obesity is a significant risk factor for cholesterol but also CVD.
📺 Watch video: Hyperlipidemia and epidemiology. (12:53 min)
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