What Is High Cholesterol? Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

高胆固醇是一种发生在levels of cholesterol in your blood are elevated enough to cause health problems, including heart disease and stroke. Sometimes known as hyperlipidemia, high cholesterol is painless and doesn’t cause any symptoms until a person develops severe heart disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and stroke is the fifth leading cause.

Produced by your liver, cholesterol is a dense, fatty substance that’s found in every cell of your body, and it is considered essential to many life-sustaining functions. It helps your body make hormones andvitamin D，它也在化合物中发现你的身体创造，以帮助你消化食物，如胆汁。

循环血液中的小的包fat and protein called lipoproteins, cholesterol comes in two primary types: low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which contributes to the buildup of fatty plaques, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which is thought to protect from heart disease and stroke. Ablood test被称为脂基板可以测量LDL和HDL胆固醇，以及甘油三酯，血液中最常见的脂肪。

Typically, high cholesterol doesn’t cause any symptoms until it causes a medical emergency, like a heart attack or stroke. These heart-disease-related events don’t occur until high cholesterol levels have led to fatty plaque building up in the arteries. In turn, this leads to a narrowing of the arteries and a change in the makeup of the arterial lining, also known as heart disease.

Heredity

Having a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease also means you are more likely to have high cholesterol.

虽然它比较少见，但有些人也携带致遗传病情，称为家族性高胆固醇血症，这导致年龄的极高的LDL水平，如果未经处理，可能导致早起冠状动脉疾病and heart attacks. The CDC estimates that 1 million Americans, or a third of a percent of the U.S. population, have familial hypercholesterolemia.

Age

Due to age-related metabolic changes, including how the liver removes LDL cholesterol from the blood, everyone’s risk of high cholesterol increases as they get older.

Gender

Women over 55 or who have completed menopause tend to havelower LDL cholesterollevels than men. In general, men tend to have higherHDL cholesterol levels比女性。

Diet

Level of Physical Activity

Tobacco Use

肥胖

Diabetes

Since high cholesterol alone typically has no signs or symptoms, the only way to find out if you have it is to get a simple blood test known as a lipid profile, or lipid panel. This blood test might require you to fast (not eat or drink) for 8 to 12 hours before your blood is drawn.

From this blood sample, your doctor can measure your LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, which at high levels can combine with low HDL or high LDL to increase yourrisk of heart disease。A lipid panel can also tell you your total cholesterol, which is based on all three components.

• LDL cholesterol of less than 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)
• HDL胆固醇大于或等于60 mg / dl
• Triglycerides of less than 150 mg/dL
• Total cholesterol of less than 200 mg/dL

然而，越来越多的心脏病学家缩短了对特定数量和更多关于心脏病的总体风险的心脏病学家。Peter Schulman, MD, an attendingcardiologist和医学教授在Uconn健康在农田，康涅狄格州。您的年龄和整体健康可以帮助您确定您是否应该与医生讨论，如果他们不在理想的范围内，请改善胆固醇水平。

Although having highcholesterol numberscan contribute to the long-termrisk of heart attack和中风，你可以通过你的生活习惯的变化降低你的胆固醇，包括采用心健康的饮食，增加你的身体活动水平，quitting smoking。These long-term lifestyle changes can also prevent your cholesterol levels from changing in the first place.

Learn More About Prevention of High Cholesterol

Medications to Treat High Cholesterol

对于大多数需要药物治疗高胆固醇的人来说，医生将规定statins。他汀类药物，也称为HMG CoA还原酶抑制剂，是一类防止胆固醇在肝脏中形成的药物，其中LDL和HDL胆固醇都是制造的。这降低了血液中循环的胆固醇的量。它们最有效地降低LDL胆固醇，但也可以降低甘油三酯和HDL胆固醇。

If you have certain conditions, or if statins aren’t working to decrease your high cholesterol sufficiently, your doctor may prescribe one of these other cholesterol-lowering medications:

• PCSK9 Inhibitors一种较新的药物，PCSK9抑制剂在某些肝细胞上结合并在某些肝细胞上灭活蛋白质，然后降低LDL胆固醇。注射施用，它们通常用于高胆固醇的患者，不能响应他汀类药物或家族性高胆固醇血症的人。

  

• 选择性胆固醇吸收抑制剂The most commonly used nonstatin agent, according to the AHA, selective cholesterol absorption inhibitors prevent cholesterol from being absorbed in the intestine. This means less cholesterol is delivered to the liver and, ultimately, the blood.

  

• 胆汁酸螯合剂Also known as bile-acid-binding agents, these drugs work by removing bile acids from the liver. Since LDL cholesterol is needed to make bile acids, the body then breaks down more LDL cholesterol particles.

Although the data doesn’t support the ability of these drugs to directly lower LDL and total cholesterol, your doctor may prescribe the following drugs to manage your甘油三酯水平:

• FibratesThese medications reduce overall triglyceride levels by reducing the liver’s production of very-low-density lipoproteins, which are made up mostly of triglycerides.
• NiacinAlso known asnicotinic acid, niacin is a B vitamin that can raise HDL cholesterol while lowering levels of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.
• Omega-3脂肪酸补充剂In large doses, omega-3 fatty acids can help lower triglyceride levels. The most common supplement is OTC fish oil, but they are also available by prescription.

了解有关高胆固醇治疗的更多信息：药物，生活方式变化，更多

定期监测您的胆固醇水平也有助于防止您的数字过高或低。一般来说，健康的成年人每隔四到六年即可检查他们的胆固醇，但你的医生可能会要求你的胆固醇更常见，往往根据你的年龄，整体健康和其他风险因素。还有其他方法可以防止高胆固醇

Eat a Healthy Diet

Eating a diet low in saturated and trans fat and high in fiber and unsaturated fats can help prevent high cholesterol. Foods like oatmeal, beans,avocados，植物油可以降低LDL胆固醇并增加HDL胆固醇水平。

Get Regular Physical Activity

Quit Smoking

保持正常体重

Having a BMI in the overweight or obese range highly correlates with having excess body fat, which in turn can affect how your body processes cholesterol. Excess body fat also slows down the ability to remove LDL cholesterol from the blood, raising your levels and increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Limit Alcohol Intake

Since high cholesterol alone typically doesn’t cause any symptoms, people only experience complications when their high cholesterol contributes to the development of severeheart disease, often in the form ofheart attackorstroke。Over the long term, high cholesterol can cause plaque to form in your arteries, which can then narrow and lead to a cardiovascular emergency.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and stroke is the fifth leading cause.

• Overall, HDL cholesterol levels were lowest in Black Americans and highest in people identifying as of Hispanic origin, a category that includes many who identify as Chicano or Latinx.
• Across all racial and ethnic groups, women had a lower prevalence of low HDL cholesterol than men.

High cholesterol is associated with other medical conditions:

• High Blood PressureHigh cholesterol is linked to high blood pressure because cholesterol-filled plaques can narrow arteries, forcing the heart to pump harder.

  

• Heart DiseaseWithout management, high cholesterol contributes to the development of heart conditions like heart attack and peripheral arterial disease.
• StrokeIf left untreated over the long term, high cholesterol contributes to therisk of stroke，一种严重的血液凝块或血流堵塞到大脑。
• Type 2 DiabetesPeople with diabetes tend to have high LDL and low HDL cholesterol levels, as well as higher levels of triglycerides.