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Advances In Cholesterol Treatment
By Eunice Gaelek
High is a concern for everyone, and with good reason. High levels of can create serious risks to an otherwise healthy person. Monitoring through diet and exercise is important, but the first step is having a clear understanding of the facts.
In May 2001, the National Education Program (NCEP) issued important clinical guidelines. This update was the first in ten years, and was prepared with hopes of helping adults manage their levels, and prevent an increase.
The NCEP, in cooperation with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, used research and study results to develop the new guidelines. The significant changes in these guidelines are as follows:
* More insistent cholesterol-reducing treatments
* The identification of patients posing a high risk of heart disease
* A new stage at which low high-density lipoprotein (low HDL) poses a major high risk factor for heart disease
* Improved therapeutic lifestyle changes to increase the ability to improve levels
* A greater focus on the cluster of heart disease risk factors known as "the metabolic syndrome", as related to insulin resistance
* Greater awareness concerning the treatment, and more aggressive treatment of high triglycerides.
Under these new guidelines, the NCEP anticipated a considerable increase in the number of Americans undergoing treatment for high cholesterol. The numbers did, in fact, increase. The cases of patients taking dietary treatments rose from 52 million to 65 million. An estimated 36 million
Today, on
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Robert Roger
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patients were taking cholesterol-reducing drugs, up from the previous number of 13 million.
The 2001 report showed that diabetes poses a great risk of heart disease, and suggests that people with diabetes should undergo the same intensive treatment as those suffering heart disease. These treatments include medication and lifestyle changes.
As a result of the new guidelines, there is now a widely used tool that was developed to help predict a patient's chance of developing heart disease within a ten-year span. This tool is able to calculate the risk of women and men separately. A group called the Adult Treatment Patients (ATP) highly recommends this tool for assessing patients presenting two or more risk factors for heart disease.
Other changes presented in the new guidelines include:
* Improved high treatments for diabetics. Type 2 diabetes poses a higher short-term risk of having a coronary episode, and a higher risk of a heart attack fatality.
* Use of lipoprotein profile as the first step in testing for high cholesterol. This uses the measurement of levels of HDL, LDL, total cholesterol, triglycerides and other fatty substances that are found in the bloodstream.
* Increased use of natural methods like nutrition, weight control and physical activity as treatments for high blood levels.
* Identification of "metabolic syndrome" as risk factors relating to insulin resistance.
* Advising patients to refrain from using hormone replacement therapies (HRT) as substitutes for cholesterol-reducing medicines.
Over a ten-year span, great advances were realized in the areas of high treatments. Because of the findings of the 2001 National Education Program, we now have a greater understanding of the effects of high cholesterol, and doctors can take advantage of better treatment options.
Eunice Gaelek writes for several popular web sites, on heart health and mans health topics. |
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