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Women, their age, and their cholesterol values.

A recent nationwide telephone survey, commissioned by the Society for Women’s Health Research suggested a substantial disconnect between women understanding the risk associated with abnormally high cholesterol levels and their actions to monitor and control these levels. Among the 524 women surveyed from June to July 2007, 88% were aware that high cholesterol was linked to hardening of the arteries and heart disease, and 85% acknowledged that high cholesterol increased the risk for stroke. Of these women, 94–96% affirmed that exercise and a diet high in fruits and vegetables and comprised of foods low in fat contributed to improved heart health, and 94% reported knowledge of medicines called statins that could effectively lower cholesterol levels if exercise and diet were inadequate. Compare this abstract awareness with its personalization. Although 79% of women recalled how much they weighed in high school, a remarkable social indicator of the items we memorize and internalize, only 32% knew their cholesterol number (including 57% among the women who had a recent cholesterol test). One in 3 women were unaware that cholesterol levels could be dangerously high even among women who exercised regularly and consumed a healthy diet, and only 1 of 3 perceived that high cholesterol was unassociated with symptoms, although 60% of surveyed women acknowledged actively trying to manage their cholesterol. Despite the intense heart health public education campaigns for women, only one-half of the women acknowledged that atherosclerosis was hardening of the arteries; 34% thought it was loss of bone density, and 24% considered it related to curvature of the spine. Forty-three percent lacked information that heart disease killed 6 times as many women as breast cancer. Women under age 45 were woefully uninformed. Only one-half had ever had a cholesterol test, and one-fourth were unsure about how cholesterol was tested. One-third believed that blood pressure was a factor in blood cholesterol level. LDL and HDL cholesterol were substantially confused as to bad versus good cholesterol. Fortyfour percent of young women were surprised that cholesterol levels can increase with age. Clearly, young adult women need a “crash course” in this contributor to the leading cause of mortality for US women. Older adult US women were better informed and more likely to monitor their cholesterol. Greater than 70% of women older than age 55 had their cholesterol tested in the antecedent year, yet more than half did not know or incorrectly guessed the optimal levels of the 2 key components of cholesterol, LDL and HDL; and few knew their personal cholesterol numbers. As with younger women, nearly one-third were surprised that high cholesterol levels could coexist with regular exercise and a healthy diet. Medicare-eligible women typically underutilize their Medicare preventive benefits, including cholesterol screening. Clearly, women fail to realize their cardiac risk, which parallels that of their male counterparts. Another recent study attests to young women being less attentive to heart disease risks than young men. Among 2400 subjects age 30–50 years old in the Dallas Heart Study, 265 of whom had a family history of premature myocardial infarction, women had a greater composite risk factor burden, a greater prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis, but less cardiovascular risk awareness and worse lifestyle choices. Young women with