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Although high blood cholesterol is a condition that is largely perceived to be a feature of wealthy western countries, there has been a consistent shift in the prevalence of raised levels of non-HDL cholesterol (‘bad’ cholesterol) towards lower-income countries.

The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, or the risk of cardiovascular disease arising from fats within the blood, was the focus of an international study published in Nature titled ‘’.

The study pooled 1,127 population-based studies measuring blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and above, to estimate trends in blood cholesterol.  On a global level, there was little change in the levels of either the total or the non-HDL cholesterol levels between 1980 and 2018.

However, it emerged that countries that previously had the highest levels of non-HDL cholesterol, which can lead to an increased risk of heart attacks, are now on the other side of the spectrum when it comes to lipid-related risk, and that their populations could be less affected by cholesterol-related heart disease.   Over the same span of time there have been rapid changes in the dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol, and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates.

This decrease was noted in higher-income western countries in Europe, and the paper specifically lists Malta along with Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

On the other hand, lower income countries in Asia and the Pacific and specifically Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, recorded higher levels of non-HDL cholesterol, as well as more deaths from cholesterol-related heart disease. In 2017, elevated non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million deaths worldwide, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia.

Pro-Rector for Academic Affairs, , who participated in the study on behalf of the University of Malta, told Newspoint “this shift to lower risk of heart disease from decreasing non-HDL cholesterol is a very welcome one, as indeed would be further lowering of this type of cholesterol. There should be more awareness of nationwide policies to improve both nutrition and medical treatment, not just in the countries which are more at risk, but also locally, where high blood cholesterol is a condition that still affects many in our community.”