Americans unaware of significance of triglycerides

By Martha Kerr

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A survey conducted by the National Lipid Association (NLA) has revealed that 87 percent of patients are unaware of the importance of high triglycerides in risk of heart disease. Fewer than half say they have discussed the topic with their doctor.

"We need to get physicians and consumers... more educated about the importance of triglycerides in heart disease," NLA spokesman Dr. Jerome D. Cohen of St. Louis University Health Sciences Center told Reuters Health.

The survey, which involved 2,089 patients and 510 doctors, showed that 17 percent of physicians are unaware of the National Cholesterol Education Program's triglyceride recommendations. Results also show that only 83 percent of doctors are aware that the triglyceride target level is below 150 mg/mL. Only 13 percent of patients were aware of the cut-off value.

Two-thirds of physicians (67 percent) said that they discuss the importance of controlling triglyceride levels with their patients, yet only 43 percent of patients recall having had such a conversation. However, one positive finding was that patients who remembered the discussion were more likely to be aware of target values.

Fewer women than men were aware of the importance of controlling triglyceride levels, despite the fact that elevated triglyceride levels are associated with a higher risk of heart disease for women than men. Furthermore, only 15 percent of diabetics were aware of the cut-off value for triglycerides.

"The real message," concluded Cohen is "that high triglycerides are treatable." A suitable education program, he added, "can be modeled after the cholesterol education program, which was modeled after the blood pressure program that was established in 1972."