RESEARCHERS at the Mater Hospital in Dublin are surprise and delighted by the findings of their study into the cholesterol levels of 1,000 Irish people aged 25-65. Unexpectedly, the study showed that cholesterol levels are actually lower among the Irish than in the US and the UK.
It has been assumed that the "average" cholesterol among the Irish population is "high", write Dr Declan Sugrue of the Mater Hospital and his colleagues in "Cholesterol Levels in Normal Irish Adults The Mater Hospital Cholesterol Screening Survey", published in the Irish Journal of Medical Science.
The average level of serum cholesterol for men and women aged 25-65 in the study was 5.1 mmol/l. For men aged 55-64 years, the average was 5.7 mmol/l. For women aged 55-64 years, the mean level was 6.2 mmol/l.
Dr Sugrue describes these levels as being "not too bad". At one extreme end of the debate, some experts would say that 5.7 mmol/l for a man in his late 50s to early 60s is far too high. At the other extreme, there are experts who believe the importance of cholesterol levels has been exaggerated.
Dr Sugrue, who sees himself as falling somewhere in the middle, says the survey results are encouraging because they indicate cholesterol levels may be dropping slightly. The reason for the decline remains unproved, but Dr Sugrue tends to agree with the moderate view that two factors are equally at play improved diet and medical technologies such as bypasses.