The main goal of treatment is to lower your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level enough to reduce your risk for having a heart attack or diseases caused by hardening of the arteries. In general, the higher your LDL level and the more risk factors you have, the greater your chances of developing heart disease or having a heart attack.

Some people are at high risk for heart attack because they already have heart disease. Other people are at high risk for developing heart disease because they have diabetes or a combination of risk factors for heart disease. Follow the steps below to find out your risk for getting heart disease. Talk with your doctor about lowering your risk.

Check the list to see how many of the risk factors you have. These are the risk factors that affect your LDL goal:

• Smoking cigarettes

• High blood pressure or if you are on blood pressure medicine

• Low level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol

• Family history of early heart disease

• Age (men 45 years or older; women 55 years or older)

Cholesterol-Lowering Medicines

For treatment, the most important aspect will be various lifestyle changes and lifestyle management. Along with suggesting that you change the way you eat and exercise regularly, your doctor may prescribe medicines to help lower your cholesterol. Even if you begin drug treatment, you will need to continue with lifestyle changes. Lifestyle management lowers your risk not only by lowering LDL but also in other ways and helps keep down the dose of LDL-lowering medication you have to take. Drug treatment controls but does not "cure" high blood cholesterol. Therefore, you must continue taking your medicine to keep your cholesterol level in the recommended range.

The five major types of cholesterol-lowering medicines are:

• Statins

  • Very effective in lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol levels

  • Safe for most people

  • Rare side effects to watch for are muscle and liver problems

• Bile Acid Sequestrants

  • Help lower LDL cholesterol levels

  • Sometimes prescribed with statins

  • Not usually prescribed as the only medicine to lower cholesterol

• Nicotinic Acid

  • Lowers LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and raises HDL (good) cholesterol

  • Should only be used under a doctor's supervision

• Fibrates

  • Lower triglycerides

  • May increase HDL (good) cholesterol levels

  • When used with a statin, may increase the chance of muscle problems

• Ezetimibe

  • Lowers LDL cholesterol

  • Acts within the intestine to block cholesterol absorption

You may take medicines for other health problems. It is important that you take ALL medicines as your doctor prescribes. The combination of medicines may lower your risk for heart disease or heart attack.

When trying to lower your cholesterol or keep it low, it is important to remember to follow your treatments for other conditions you may have, such as high blood pressure. Get help with quitting smoking and losing weight if they are risk factors for you.

 

This information has been adapted from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.