Countries with higher national income levels, lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs and high performing and efficient health systems tend to have lower rates of high cholesterol among people with a history of high cholesterol, according to research published in Circulation.
Researchers studied a database of more than 53,000 patients at elevated risk of heart attack or stroke from 36 countries to determine what characteristics might be associated with cholesterol levels. Key findings from their research revealed the following:
• Among the 38 percent of total patients with high total cholesterol levels, rates varied widely across countries, ranging from 73 percent in Bulgaria to 24 percent in Finland.
• Elevated cholesterol rates were particularly high among patients in Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, Hungary and Russia. These countries also ranked relatively low on health system and economic indicators.
• While the United States had rates of elevated cholesterol similar to other developed countries, such as Finland, the U.K., Israel, Australia and Canada, levels of healthcare spending was considerably higher than in other developed countries.
• For patients with a history of high cholesterol, country-specific rates of high total cholesterol tended to increase as country-level income and health system performance decreased.
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Researchers studied a database of more than 53,000 patients at elevated risk of heart attack or stroke from 36 countries to determine what characteristics might be associated with cholesterol levels. Key findings from their research revealed the following:
• Among the 38 percent of total patients with high total cholesterol levels, rates varied widely across countries, ranging from 73 percent in Bulgaria to 24 percent in Finland.
• Elevated cholesterol rates were particularly high among patients in Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, Hungary and Russia. These countries also ranked relatively low on health system and economic indicators.
• While the United States had rates of elevated cholesterol similar to other developed countries, such as Finland, the U.K., Israel, Australia and Canada, levels of healthcare spending was considerably higher than in other developed countries.
• For patients with a history of high cholesterol, country-specific rates of high total cholesterol tended to increase as country-level income and health system performance decreased.
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