Nearly 2 out of 3 adults with high LDL cholesterol and about half of adults with high blood pressure don't have their condition under control.

In fact, more than 80% of people who don't have their high blood pressure or cholesterol under control already have health insurance, indicating that for most patients, health insurance is not sufficient to achieve control. The percentage of the population suffering from high cholesterol is on the rise and has been for over a decade. About 40% of Americans have high cholesterol, a serious condition that increases the risk of heart disease.

Because there often are no symptoms, it’s crucial to have your cholesterol level checked. You can help prevent high cholesterol through a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly and eliminating tobacco use.

There are five diseases included in a broader category of chronic diseases: cardiac heart disease, high cholesterol, heart attack, stroke and hypertension (high blood pressure). These diseases are long-term illnesses that many individuals can manage through lifestyle changes and healthcare interventions. However, they do place a burden on many of the affected individuals by constraining options and activities available to them and can result in expensive and ongoing expenditures for health care.

All measures are self-reported by respondents to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System).

Resources for heart and vascular diseases are at National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute as well as at the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, CDC.