Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in your blood. If you have too much cholesterol in your blood, it can increase your risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke. If you have been prescribed statins, your doctor has assessed that you are at significant risk of CVD. Statins can reduce this risk by a third if taken properly and at the right dose.

Evidence strongly indicates that high cholesterol can increase the risk of:

• narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis) 
• heart attack 
• stroke 
• transient ischaemic attack (TIA) – often known as a mini stroke
• peripheral arterial disease (PAD)

Many factors can increase your chances of having heart problems or a stroke if you have high cholesterol.

If you need to have your cholesterol measured, it will be in units called millimoles per litre of blood (mmol/l).

As a general guide, you should aim to have a total cholesterol level of under 4mmol/l - especially if you are at risk of, or already have, heart and circulatory disease.

Lifestyle changes, such as eating a healthy, balanced diet; taking regular exercise and giving up smoking, help to improve cholesterol levels.

You can swap food containing saturated fat with fruit, vegetables and wholegrain cereals. This will also help prevent high cholesterol returning.

Statins are a group of medicines that can help lower the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in your blood.

LDL cholesterol is often referred to as bad cholesterol, and statins reduce its production inside the liver.

Having a high level of LDL cholesterol is potentially dangerous, as it can lead to the hardening and narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis) and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Evidence has shown that people taking more effective statins, in particular atorvastatin, enjoy additional benefit compared with those people taking less effective statins such as pravastatin or some doses of simvastatin.