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New
Cholesterol Guidelines Released
So
you've heard that new guidelines recommend a more aggressive approach
to preventing and managing high cholesterol levels, and that millions
more Americans might be told they need treatment
What should
you do about it?
First, heart
specialists say, don't panic. This is about dealing with a long-term
problem, not an emergency.
But one thing
people can do right away is get out a tape measure and check their
waists, said Dr. Margo Denke of the University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center in Dallas.
Keep the tape
measure parallel to the floor. If it shows a waist of more than
40 inches for a man or 35 inches for a woman, make an appointment
with a doctor, said Denke, who was on the expert panel that wrote
the National Institutes of Health's new guidelines.
The reason
is to check for ``metabolic syndrome,'' a condition highlighted
in the guidelines as raising the risk for heart attack.
Apart from
that, healthy people who've been told they have ``borderline''
cholesterol levels - like 200 to 240 for total cholesterol - but
don't suffer symptoms of heart disease should find a good time
to ask their doctors what the new guidelines mean for them, experts
say.
They should
probably check it out ``sometime in the course of the next year,''
says Dr. Ronald Krauss, spokesman for the American Heart Association.
But people with symptoms or particular concerns should feel free
to do it sooner, he said.
Dr. Harlan
Krumholz, a Yale cardiologist, suggested that people with heart
disease check with their doctor in the next three to six months.
And healthy people with no known cholesterol problem should ask
about the guidelines at their next checkup, he said.
``I don't
think these guidelines should elicit a rush where everyone feels
they need to find out tomorrow,'' Krumholz said.
For healthy
adults in general, the guidelines unveiled Tuesday recommend getting
a lipoprotein profile - which measures blood levels of ``good''
cholesterol, ``bad'' cholesterol and a fatty substance called
triglycerides - every five years.
Several doctors
noted that many patients will find they're already being treated
in accordance with the new guidelines, because the new document
is based on information doctors have known about for some time.
Still, the
federal government says the guidelines could dramatically increase
the number of Americans getting treated for high cholesterol.
Some 36 million
Americans might end up on medications to lower cholesterol, about
triple the current figure of 13 million, the NIH said. The number
on dietary treatment could reach about 65 million Americans, up
from some 52 million.
Doctors stressed
that diet and exercise remain the first line of treatment. Many
people can reduce their ``bad'' type of cholesterol by 10 percent
to 20 percent through a dietary approach, Krauss said.
For those
who are prescribed drugs to lower cholesterol, the most common
kind is a class called statins. Krauss said side effects, such
as muscle soreness, are rare and easily reversible. ``It really
is a category of drugs patients should not be apprehensive about,''
he said.
National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov
American Heart
Association: http://www.americanheart.org
Reference
Source 102
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