Blood cholesterol
Cholesterol is a fatty
substance found in the blood. It's mainly made in the body.
Cholesterol plays an essential role in how every cell in the body
works.
However, too much cholesterol in the blood can increase your
risk of cardiovascular
disease.
Cholesterol levels can be reduced by medication, physical
activity and changes to your diet,
in particular a reduction in saturated
fat.
In England in
2008 58 per cent of men and 61 per cent of women had
raised cholesterol levels.
In Scotland in
2008 57 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women aged
16 to 64 had raised cholesterol levels.
The prevalence of raised
cholesterol increases with age in both men and women.
In 2008, the percentage of people with raised cholesterol levels
ranged between 54 per cent and 64 per cent for different
regions of England for men, and between 56 per cent and 68
per cent for women.
London had the lowest prevalence of raised cholesterol for men
and North East had the lowest for women. South Central had the
highest prevalence in men but the East Midlands had the highest
prevalence for women.
Downloads
Statistics on
medical risk factors of heart disease, including blood
cholesterol from Coronary Heart Disease Statistics 2010