Some risk factors for high cholesterol — age, sex, family history — are out of your hands. Others — health conditions and behaviors — you can work on to lower your risk.
Health conditions
| Condition | Effect on cholesterol |
|---|---|
| Type 2 diabetes | lowers HDL ("good") and raises LDL ("bad") cholesterol — together raising the risk of heart disease and stroke |
| Obesity | linked to higher triglycerides and LDL and lower HDL; also leads to heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Ask your health care team about a plan to reach a healthy weight |
| Other conditions, such as familial hypercholesterolemia | can cause very high LDL |
Familial hypercholesterolemia
Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited condition causing very high LDL from a young age, which keeps worsening if untreated.
- How common: relatively rare in the U.S. — an estimated 1 million adults have confirmed or probable FH; worldwide, about 1 in 311 people.
- Family warning sign: if a relative had a heart attack early in life, talk with your health care team about your risk and your family's, and whether your family should be tested.
- Treatment: lifestyle changes help, but FH often needs medicine too, such as statins — see cholesterol-lowering medicines.
Behaviors
- Diet: eating lots of saturated and trans fat can contribute to high cholesterol and heart disease.
- Inactivity: too little physical activity can lead to weight gain and high cholesterol.
- Smoking: damages blood vessels so they collect fatty deposits, and may lower HDL. Don't start — or get help quitting.
The good news: healthy habits lower your risk.
Factors you can't control
- Family history: high cholesterol runs in families; you may need cholesterol checks more often.
- Age: risk rises as the body gets worse at clearing cholesterol from the blood, raising the risk of heart disease and stroke.
- Sex: until about age 55 (or menopause), women tend to have lower LDL than men; at any age, men tend to have lower HDL than women.
If any of these apply to you, get your cholesterol checked and talk with your doctor.
Know your family health history
Your risk climbs further if high cholesterol runs in your family and you eat an unhealthy diet, are sedentary or smoke. A family health history — a record of the conditions in your family — helps you understand and prevent disease. Does It Run in the Family? explains why and how to collect it, how to talk with relatives, which conditions run in families, and offers a customizable tool for stories, photos and health details.
More from CDC: high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke and familial hypercholesterolemia.
Sources
Based on "Risk Factors for High Cholesterol," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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