Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Cardiovascular Disease - High Cholesterol
Summary Indicator Report Data View Options
Cardiovascular Disease - High Cholesterol by County, New Jersey, 2015, 2017, 2021
Why Is This Important?
High cholesterol is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (i.e., heart attack, heart failure, or stroke). Regular physical activity and eating a healthy diet can help prevent high cholesterol and improve cholesterol levels that are not optimal. Smoking can decrease levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, which also increases risk for cardiovascular disease.
Definition
Estimated percentage of New Jersey adults (ages 18 and over) who have ever been told by a doctor, nurse or other health professional that they have high cholesterol. The high cholesterol question is administered only in odd years. All prevalence estimates are age-adjusted to the U.S. 2000 standard population (except for rates by age group).
Data Source
Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, Center for Health Statistics, New Jersey Department of Health(http://www.nj.gov/health/chs/njbrfs/)
How the Measure is Calculated
| Numerator: | Number of adults from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System who have ever been told they have high cholesterol by a health professional. |
| Denominator: | Number of survey respondents excluding those with missing, "Don't know/Not sure," and "Refused" responses. |
How Are We Doing?
In 2021, the age-adjusted percentage of New Jersey adults who have been told they have high cholesterol by a health professional was about 33.2%. Hispanics (37.9%) have highest prevalence of diagnosed high cholesterol compared to Blacks (29.2%), Whites (31.9%) and Asians (34.4%).
What Is Being Done?
The New Jersey Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program (NJHDSPP) seeks to reduce the burden of high total blood cholesterol in New Jersey residents through evidence-based systems level interventions that support prevention, detection and control of high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart disease and stroke. Since 2013, HDSPP has partnered with 22 health systems including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Regional Planning Collaboratives (RPCs), and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to: *Increase electronic health records (EHR) adoption *Increase the use of health information technology and team based care *Changing roles and adding new positions to enhance care coordination teams *Improve control measures for high blood pressure *Implement Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDS) *Incorporating clinical guidelines that are a part of a decision support system *Improving usability and applicability of alerts, order sets, registries, and other clinical data available through electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchanges (HIEs) *Promote awareness High Blood Pressure among patients with the condition
Evidence-based Practices
The NJHDSPP reduces the burden of high total cholesterol on New Jersey residents by implementing health systems interventions that increase awareness, promote reporting of clinical quality measures, and increase quality improvement processes such as Team Based Care (TBC). These practices are recommended by the Community Guide for Preventive Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as effective, evidence based practices to reduce the burden of high total cholesterol.