Many Taiwanese lack understanding of the dangers of high cholesterol levels and most are unwilling to have their cholesterol levels checked by a doctor, according to a report compiled in May and released yesterday.
According to the report, most Taiwanese understand the danger of heart and vascular diseases, but less than 10 percent are willing to have a check-up for cholesterol levels.
The report also showed that people lacked an understanding of cholesterol. Only 20 percent of Taiwanese could distinguish the difference between the two types of cholesterol: low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL). Among Asian countries, that a little better than India.
"Although our hi-tech industry is highly developed, we are just like other developing countries in regard to awareness of health issues," Delon Wu (吳德朗), president of Chang Gung University (長庚大學), said yesterday at a press conference. Wu, a heart surgeon, said that the public should be better educated.
The research was conducted in May by ISIS Research PLC, and was supported by Pfizer. The sample size was 200 and all subjects were over 40 years old.
Last year, strokes and heart attacks were the third and fourth biggest killers in Taiwan after cancer and accidents, accounting for about 19 percent of all deaths.
Wu said that high blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels were the main cause of cardiac and vascular disease. High blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and a family history of heart disease were other main factors.
Compared to other Asian countries, the coronary artery disease mortality rate is quite low in Taiwan.
"The diet and genetics of Taiwanese protect us from heart and vascular disease," Wu said. "Evidence clearly shows that lowering cholesterol levels by just a small amount can reduce the risk of heart and vascular diseases by 2 to 3 percent," Wu said.
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