What is High Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is something that everyone has, and is found in everyone’s body. However, when cholesterol builds up this leads to High Cholesterol (Hyperlipidemia), and becomes a medical condition. Once cholesterol levels become high, then fatty deposits can develop within your blood vessels. The deposits can increase in size, causing less blood flow. In addition, the deposits can break off and form a blood clot that can lead to more serious conditions. There are two main types of cholesterol, and this depends on the proteins they attach to in your body:

• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) – this is referred to as the “bad” cholesterol. This is the type of cholesterol that builds up in the arteries. 
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL) – known as the “good” cholesterol. This type brings back extra cholesterol in your body and takes it to the liver.

Risk factors for high cholesterol include:

• Obesity
• Poor diet
• Lack of exercise
• Smoking, alcohol, or chronic stress
• Additional medical conditions, like hypertension or diabetes

High Cholesterol in Our Community

Darker colors on the interactive maps indicate worse outcomes. 

In 2017, it was estimated that 34.3% of Taylor County adults were diagnosed with high cholesterol. This percentage was higher than the estimated percent of adults in Texas who had high cholesterol, which was 31.7%. The percentage of Taylor County residents who had high cholesterol slightly decreased by 2019 to 32.0%. This was slightly lower than the estimation of Texan adults who had high cholesterol, which was 32.9% in 2019. 

In Taylor County, the zip codes with the highest percentage of adults diagnosed with high cholesterol were 79566 (43.4%) and 79561 (38.9%). The zip codes with the lowest percentage of adults diagnosed with high cholesterol were 79607 (12.4%) and 79601 (29.0%).