Cholesterol levels dropping in Western nations but rising in Asia
Dr Ala’a Alkerwi from the LIH Department of Population Health contributed to a global public health study on cholesterol, which was published in Nature in June 2020. The paper brings forward a major global repositioning of lipid-related risk over the past four decades. Specifically, non-optimal cholesterol trends shifted from being a distinct feature of high-income western countries to being a significant burden in low- and middle-income nations. The study, led by Imperial College London, was conducted in the framework of the international Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). Luxembourg contributed with data generated from the national population-based study “ORISCAV-LUX” (Observation des Risques et de la Santé Cardiovasculaire au Luxembourg), which had been conducted in 2007-2008 on more than 1,400 residents with the aim of assessing cardiovascular health and risk factors in Luxembourg.