Medical Treatment

If an individual has high cholesterol, a doctor will recommend the following lifestyle changes to help the patient lower their cholesterol levels:

• Low-saturated fat, low-cholesterol diet
  
  
• Increased physical activity
  
  
• Smoking cessation
  
  
• Weight loss

If these lifestyle changes do not lower a person's risk for developing coronary heart disease after about three months, the doctor may consider prescribing a cholesterol-lowering medication. If the patient has heart disease or many risk factors for heart disease, the doctor may prescribe cholesterol-lowering medications in addition to lifestyle changes immediately, rather than wait three months for the effect of lifestyle changes alone.

Cholesterol-lowering medications include:

• statins,
  
  
• bile acid sequestrants,
  
  
• cholesterol absorption inhibitors,
  
  
• nicotinic acid agents, and
  
  
• fibrates.

If the patient's doctor prescribes one of these medications, he or she must still follow a cholesterol-lowering diet, be more physically active, lose weight if (if the patient is overweight), and control or stop all of the other risk factors for heart disease (including high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking).

Taking all these steps together may lessen the amount of medication an individual needs or make the medication more effective, which reduces the risks associated with high cholesterol.

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