Prevalence of dyslipidaemia and awareness of blood cholesterol levels among community-living people: results from the Longevity check-up 7+ (Lookup 7+) cross-sectional survey

Objective

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of abnormal cholesterol levels and to explore awareness of cholesterol values in an unselected sample of community-living adults.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting

Exhibitions, malls and health promotion campaigns across Italy.

Participants

3535 community dwellers aged 18–98 years were enrolled between September 2016 and June 2017. Analyses were conducted in 3040 participants, after excluding 495 enrolees on cholesterol-lowering medications.

Main outcome measures

Total blood cholesterol levels and awareness of cholesterol values.

Results

Abnormal blood cholesterol values were found in 1961 (64.5%) of participants with no differences between genders (p=0.06). Among those who believed they had normal cholesterol levels, only 48% had values below 200 mg/dL. More than 40% had cholesterol values between 200 and 240 mg/dL, and around 10% had values >240 mg/dL. More than one-third of participants had not measured cholesterol in the last year. Among them, only 36% had normal cholesterol levels.

Conclusions

Abnormal blood cholesterol is highly prevalent in our sample of Italian community dwellers, with less than half of participants being aware of their cholesterol levels.

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