- Dyslipidemia is a condition that occurs when the body’s blood lipids, or fats, are unbalanced.
- The most common type of dyslipidemia is high cholesterol, which is attributable to about 4.4 million deaths every year.
- Recently, the American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) announced the publishing of updated guidelines for doctors for the management of dyslipidemia.
- The guidelines place an emphasis on earlier intervention through healthy lifestyle choices.
Dyslipidemia is a cardiovascular-related condition that occurs when the body’s blood lipids, or fats, are unbalanced.
The most common type of dyslipidemia is hypercholesterolemia, which is the medical term for high cholesterol. Typically linked to high levels of “bad cholesterol,” low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), researchers estimate that high cholesterol is attributable to about 4.4 million deaths every year.
Past research shows that people with dyslipidemia are at an increased risk for several cardiovascular conditions, including high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, peripheral artery disease, atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease.
Dyslipidemia can also heighten a person’s chance of developing type 2 diabetes, pancreatitis, and chronic kidney disease.
Recently, the American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) announced the publishing of updated guidelines for doctors for the management of dyslipidemia.
The new recommendations — which appear in the journal
Medical News Today spoke with six heart health specialists to find out more about the recommendations and what everyone should know about the updates.
According to Rodrigo Mendirichaga Magana, MD, FACC, FSCAI, interventional cardiologist, director of the Anticoagulation Clinic, and director of cardiac rehabilitation at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, a Mass General Brigham community hospital, dyslipidemia is the broader term doctors use to describe any abnormality in the lipids, or fats, circulating in the blood.
Magana was not involved in the drafting of the updated guidelines.
“It includes high levels of LDL (the ‘bad’ cholesterol that builds up in artery walls), low levels of HDL (the ‘good’ cholesterol that helps clear that buildup), and elevated triglycerides, which are another type of fat in the blood,” he explained to MNT.
“Why does it matter? Because when these lipids are out of balance, they gradually deposit in the walls of your arteries, forming plaque,” he told us.
“Over time, that plaque narrows the arteries and can rupture, triggering a heart attack or stroke,” he continued. “The problem is that dyslipidemia is largely silent and most people have no symptoms whatsoever until something serious happens.“
“That’s exactly why these guidelines are so important: they help us find and address the problem long before it becomes a crisis,” said Magana.
Team Health Accessible
Health & Wellness Editorial Team
HealthAccessible editorial team delivers trusted, accessible, and evidence-based health information for everyone.
