Cholesterol And Obesity Statistics: Demographics

Cholesterol and Obesity Statistics Name: Instructor: Institution: Date: Introduction There are various agencies that work to achieve various goals in the country. When it comes to matters concerning health, the statistical data that relates to the nation’s general health is done by the National Centre for Health Services. The agency is in charge of carrying out th data collection process, analysis and deduction of the various pieces of statistical information concerning a particular health related phenomenon within the population. There are various health related phenomena that can be analyzed. These include obesity, diabetes, anemia and even cholesterol levels within the population in question. This paper aims at offering an insight on issues related to cholesterol and obesity, based on the latest statistics from the records of National Centre for Health Services. Specific focus will be on the demographics across the general population. Discussion Cholesterol is an insoluble, waxy compound that is usually present in virtually all the body cells. In small amounts, cholesterol helps in the proper functioning of the body cells, especially in digestion, formation of some vitamins, as well as manufacture of hormones. Under high concentration however, it results in adverse effects on the body. The impacts of high cholesterol levels include abnormal cholesterol levels in youngsters, and increased obesity in the general population (Nguyen, 2015). The U.S has had a growing case of obesity among the states. Over the past three decades, obesity has been on the rise amongst the population. Recently however, there has been a notable decrease in the number of citizens suffering from obesity. While it might be good news, the statistics are still grim, according to NCHS (Nguyen, 2015). Cholesterol can be classified into three. The first one is the High Density Lipoprotein (HDL). This is normally referred to as the good type of cholesterol. The second type is the Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL). This is commonly known as the bad kind of cholesterol. The third kind is known as Total cholesterol. When it comes to youngsters, one out of five have an abnormal level of cholesterol. The statistics indicate that about 13% had low HDL, 8.4% had high non-HDL, and 7.4% had high total cholesterol (Ford & Capewell, 2013). This is a clear indication that low HDL cholesterol was more prevalent than the other two categories. While relating the data to the general population, especially among the youthful population, it is indicative of the fact that children had a lower prevalence of either of these categories of cholesterol, compared to adolescents. When it comes to comparing between the genders, there was a lower prevalence o...