Cholesterol Screening (%)
High cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease, the leading cause of death among U.S. women.1 Certain behaviors such as, eating a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, increasing physical activity, and maintaining a healthy weight can prevent or lower high cholesterol.2 Therefore, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends that all adults over the age of 20 undergo a cholesterol screening every 5 years to help identify high cholesterol levels and prompt action to prevent or lower their risk of heart disease.3
What percentage of adult women have had a cholesterol check within the past five years?
The Report Card benchmark is the Healthy People 2010 goal of increasing the percentage of adults who have had their cholesterol checked within the past five years to 80 percent (when applied to women) [Healthy People 2010 Objective 12-15].
| State | State Overall Data | State Grade | State Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 80.6 | S | 22 |
| Alaska | 74.1 | F | 47 |
| Arizona | 75.6 | U | 44 |
| Arkansas | 76.0 | U | 41 |
| California | 78.4 | S- | 29 |
| Colorado | 78.9 | S- | 27 |
| Connecticut | 84.3 | S | 7 |
| Delaware | 81.2 | S | 19 |
| District of Columbia | 86.6 | S | 1 |
| Florida | 84.2 | S | 8 |
| Georgia | 81.0 | S | 21 |
| Hawaii | 80.4 | S | 23 |
| Idaho | 71.0 | F | 50 |
| Illinois | 76.6 | U | 35 |
| Indiana | 78.0 | S- | 30 |
| Iowa | 76.5 | U | 37 |
| Kansas | 77.3 | S- | 32 |
| Kentucky | 82.2 | S | 13 |
| Louisiana | 79.2 | S- | 26 |
| Maine | 85.4 | S | 4 |
| Maryland | 85.0 | S | 6 |
| Massachusetts | 85.7 | S | 2 |
| Michigan | 82.6 | S | 12 |
| Minnesota | 81.5 | S | 17 |
| Mississippi | 76.2 | U | 40 |
| Missouri | 76.4 | U | 38 |
| Montana | 73.5 | F | 49 |
| Nebraska | 75.7 | U | 43 |
| Nevada | 76.6 | U | 35 |
| New Hampshire | 85.1 | S | 5 |
| New Jersey | 83.3 | S | 11 |
| New Mexico | 73.9 | F | 48 |
| New York | 84.0 | S | 9 |
| North Carolina | 81.2 | S | 19 |
| North Dakota | 78.0 | S- | 30 |
| Ohio | 78.9 | S- | 27 |
| Oklahoma | 76.9 | S- | 34 |
| Oregon | 75.9 | U | 42 |
| Pennsylvania | 79.5 | S- | 25 |
| Rhode Island | 85.7 | S | 2 |
| South Carolina | 81.9 | S | 15 |
| South Dakota | 76.4 | U | 38 |
| Tennessee | 83.4 | S | 10 |
| Texas | 74.9 | U | 45 |
| Utah | 67.6 | F | 51 |
| Vermont | 79.8 | S- | 24 |
| Virginia | 81.8 | S | 16 |
| Washington | 74.7 | U | 46 |
| West Virginia | 82.1 | S | 14 |
| Wisconsin | 81.5 | S | 17 |
| Wyoming | 77.3 | S- | 32 |
Data Source: Cholesterol Screening (%), 2009.
EXPLANATION: This indicator measure includes women age 18 and older in the non-institutionalized civilian population who reported having a cholesterol check in the past five years.
SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS), 2009, available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/index.asp and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Public Health and Science, Office on Women’s Health. Quick Health Data Online, 2010, Washington, DC, 2010, available at http://www.womenshealth.gov/quickhealthdata. The national overall number and national data by age are the median of 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data for race/ethnicity and age are two-year averages from 2007 and 2009 and are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population.
Footnotes
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “FastStats: Women’s Health (Mortality data),” available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/womens_health.htm, Last accessed: September 7, 2010
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Cholesterol: What you can do,” February, 2010, available at: http://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/what_you_can_do.htm
3 National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III), (Bethesda, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, May, 2001), 13, available at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/cholesterol/atp3xsum.pdf
