Survey Reveals a Increasing Number of Adults with High Cholesterol

A growing proportion of adults has raised cholesterol, according to data released by NHS England, which also show rates of obesity have remained high.

More than half (53 percent) of adults in England were classed as having raised cholesterol in 2022, up from 43 percent in 2019, according to the new figures.

Reversing Downward Trend

The report found that raised levels were more prevalent in females, with some 56 percent of women classed as having raised “total cholesterol” in 2022, compared with 49 percent of men.

Among women aged 55–64 more than three-quarters (79 percent) were found to have raised cholesterol.

The proportion of adults with raised total cholesterol declined from 1998 to 2019 and the latest figures show a “reversing [of] the downward trend,” researchers said.

The authors suggest that restricted access to GPs during the COVID-19 lockdown era may have had an impact on the number of people tested for raised cholesterol.

Prescriptions for drugs designed to lower cholesterol, such as statins, fell between March 2020 and July 2021, compared with the pre-lockdown period, they added.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in the blood and is needed by the body to function. It is made in the liver and some is obtained through food.

Too much of a certain type of cholesterol known as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is believed to be harmful as it can clog blood vessels and reduce blood flow, potentially leading to heart attacks and strokes. However, another form of cholesterol, known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is understood to be the good kind, which the body needs to function.

The report states: “Serum total cholesterol concentration is positively associated with the risk of coronary heart disease.

“HDL cholesterol carries cholesterol away from the arteries back to the liver and is considered to be beneficial or ‘good’ cholesterol. Studies have demonstrated a strong direct relationship between coronary heart disease and low HDL cholesterol.”

The Health Survey for England figures show that rates of obesity in adults and children have remained stable since 2019.

In 2022, 29 percent of adults in England were obese, with 64 percent deemed to be overweight or obese.

1 Child in 7 Is ‘Obese’

Around one in seven (15 percent) of children aged 2 to 15 were classed as obese, which is down slightly from 16 percent in 2019, according to the data released by NHS England.

Dr. Clare Hambling, NHS England’s national clinical director for diabetes and obesity, said in a statement: “Obesity is one of the biggest threats to health in the UK – it affects every human organ system and can have a major impact on people’s lives.

“Obesity increases people’s risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, mental ill health and many other illnesses which can lead to shorter lives, or affect quality of life, with greater need for healthcare.

“The NHS can play its part in that, alongside local councils, but we need to work with the rest of society to tackle the issues that contribute to obesity to help people remain as healthy as possible.”

The government has announced proposals to ban the advertising of junk food to children as part of its strategy to prevent ill health and ease the huge burden of obesity-related illness on the NHS.

A total of 7,729 adults aged 16 and over and 1,393 children up to the age of 15 were interviewed in the 2022 Health Survey for England, an annual survey conducted by NHS Digital, formerly NHS England Digital, in collaboration with NatCen Social Research and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London.

The survey also revealed that 41 percent of adults reported having at least one longstanding illness or condition. The prevalence of diabetes in adults was found to be 10 percent, although just 6 percent had a doctor’s diagnosis of the condition.

Statins are prescribed for high cholesterol and high blood pressure and are claimed to reduce the likelihood of conditions such as heart attack and stroke. Some 8 million Britons now take the drugs.

The best-selling statin is atorvastatin, also known as Lipitor, which in 2003 became the top-selling pharmaceutical in history, with manufacturer Pfizer reporting sales of $12.4 billion (£6.2 billion) in 2008.

Statins Libel Case Ongoing

Some doctors and health experts have warned against the potential dangers—and lack of benefits—in taking the drugs.

A judgment in June from a libel case brought by Dr. Malcom Kendrick and academic Zoe Harcombe, found that a series of articles by the Mail on Sunday labelling three doctors and academics as “deadly statin deniers” were “seriously misleading.”

Two of the three individuals referred to in the 2019 articles are suing the newspaper’s publisher, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) and its health editor, Barney Calman, for defamation at the High Court, and are proceeding with their claim after the ruling earlier this year, which dismissed the Mail on Sunday’s defence of “public interest.”

Kendrick, a GP, and obesity and food researcher Harcombe took action after the articles accused them of spreading “fake news” and causing “grave harm” through their questioning of the official consensus around statins.

The third individual named in the Mail on Sunday reports was cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra, who became known for questioning the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 jabs after his father died following vaccination. Malhotra is not involved in the libel action, but welcomed the preliminary judgment on social media platform X, saying, “THIS story is NOT over.”

Mail on Sunday publishers ANL and Calman are defending the libel claim, with lawyers for the publication arguing that “allegations of impropriety” about the use of a statement from then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock were “unsupported by any proper evidence.”

Kendrick is the author of the book “The Clot Thickens,” which examines so-called “contradictions” in the official medical narrative around cholesterol; while Harcombe has published papers and books focused on diet and appeared in the media as a critic of the narratives around COVID-19 and lockdowns, as well as statins.