Cardiovascular Health Indicator
Measure: High Cholesterol Prevalence

Analysis

In order to know if you have high cholesterol, you must have your blood checked. In Minnesota in 2021, 87.6% of adults reported EVER having their cholesterol checked and 82.2% had it checked in the past 5 years. This is close to the national average, but means that more than one in ten Minnesota adults has never had their cholesterol checked.

Medication can be prescribed to help lower high cholesterol for people with high blood pressure (hypertension). In Minnesota in 2021, 61.4% of people who said they had high cholesterol also reported taking a cholesterol medication.

Since 2011, Minnesota has ranked among the states with the lowest age-adjusted prevalence of high cholesterol. Table 1 shows the trend from 2011 through 2021, with a small but significant decrease in the percentage of adults reporting they have been told they have high cholesterol, through 2017. The small increase observed in 2021 is significantly higher than in 2017 and 2019.

Table 1: High Cholesterol Awareness, Minnesota Adults, 2011-2021

The percentage of adults who report being told that they have high cholesterol increases with age. Chart 1 and Table 2 show the overall prevalence of high cholesterol for Minnesota adults by age group in 2021. Almost half of adults aged 65 or older report being told they have high cholesterol, compared to fewer than one in fifteen adults aged 18-24.

Chart 1: High Cholesterol Awareness by Age Group, Minnesota Adults, 2021

Table 2: High Cholesterol Awareness by Age Group, Minnesota Adults, 2021

In addition to differences by age group, there are differences in high cholesterol prevalence by sex, with more Minnesota men than women reporting being told they have high cholesterol in 2021, as shown in Table 3 below.

Table 3: High Cholesterol Awareness by Sex, Minnesota Adults, 2021

It is difficult to assess whether there are significant differences in high cholesterol prevalence between people from different racial and ethnic groups because the available race or ethnicity-specific data are based on small numbers.

There are also differences in high cholesterol prevalence between adults with and without a disability. Chart 2 and Table 4 show the age-adjusted prevalence of high cholesterol for adults without a disability, as well as adults with a disability, categorized by type of disability. Among individuals without a disability, 25.1% reported having high cholesterol. Minnesota adults with any reported disability were 7.2 to 11.5 percentage points more likely to report having high cholesterol. There were no significant differences in high cholesterol prevalence by type of disability.

Chart 2: High Cholesterol Awareness by Disability Status, Minnesota Adults, 2021

Table 4: High Cholesterol Awareness by Disability Status and Type of Disability, Minnesota Adults, 2021

*Note–people may have more than one disability.

Mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety are known to influence health behaviors, which can impact the risk of high blood pressure. Table 5 shows the prevalence of high cholesterol among Minnesota adults based on the number of days a person experiences poor mental health within the past 30 days. Prevalence of high cholesterol increases as the number of poor mental health days increases. Adults who experience at least 14 poor mental health days were about 6 percentage points more likely to report having high cholesterol compared to those who reported no poor mental health days in the past 30 days.

Table 5: High Cholesterol Awareness by Mental Health Indicator, Minnesota Adults, 2021

Other Resources

• CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Prevalence & Trends Data
  These data are population-weighted and provide the most comprehensive overview of health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services by US adults. Data can be compared across states and metropolitan areas for multiple years, by sex, race group, age group, and income.


• PLACES: Local Data for Better Health
  These data provide information on 29 health indicators (including high blood pressure and blood pressure medication) in the US based on national health surveys, including BRFSS. Information is shown by county, place, census tract, and zip code across the entire country. The PLACES data can help us identify and understand health issues affecting the residents of local areas of all sizes in the US; develop and begin prevention programs; and set key health goals.
  
  It’s important to remember that these are estimates created from survey data. This means that when survey data are not available for a specific small area, information from nearby areas are used to estimate the measure for that place. Because they are estimates, the information shouldn’t be used to show change over time or how effective a specific program is.










 
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Data Source

The results are analyses conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health based on data from the Minnesota Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Data. The survey is a weighted population-based survey of health behaviors of adults residing in Minnesota.

Measure Definition

This measure is based on the question in the BRFSS survey “Have you EVER had your blood cholesterol checked?” Second, all adults who said they had their cholesterol checked, were then asked asked the follow-up question, “Have you EVER been told by a doctor, nurse or other health professional that your blood cholesterol is high?“ For this measure, we report the (weighted) proportion of adults that responded yes. For the statewide measure we report the (weighted) age-adjusted proportion of adults that responded yes. For the prevalence measures by age group and sex, we report the unadjusted proportion of adults that responded yes. Because these estimates are from a survey of a small portion of the population, the 95% confidence intervals are also presented. A 95% confidence interval is a statistic which means that we are 95% confident that the actual value of the estimate is within the range. This also helps us decide if estimates are statistically-different from each other, such as when comparing years, or race groups.