Dr. Pankaj Arora, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, led the study. The news "is very heartening," Arora said, "but there is more to do."
阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校的潘卡基·阿罗拉主持了这项研究。阿罗拉表示，这个消息“非常令人振奋，但是还有很多工作要做。”
Heart disease is the world's leading killer
心脏病是全球头号杀手
Heart disease is the world's leading killer and high cholesterol is a key risk factor. Doctors have long treated patients based mostly on their level of so-called "bad" cholesterol, known as LDL.
心脏病是全球头号杀手，高胆固醇是一项关键的危险因素。医生们长期以来主要根据患者所谓的低密度脂蛋白胆固醇水平对其进行治疗。
In 2013, new guidelines in the United States urged doctors to examine people's overall heart risk. In other words, the guidelines recommended that doctors consider age, blood pressure, diabetes and other factors.
2013年，美国新的胆固醇指南督促医生们检查人们的总体心脏病风险。换句话说，该指南建议医生考虑年龄、血压、糖尿病以及其它因素。
The idea was that people with the highest risk would get the most benefit from cholesterol-lowering medications called statins.
其理念是，高风险人群会从被称为他汀类药物的降胆固醇药物中获得最大受益。
Research and findings
研究与发现
The researchers studied records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These records tracked cholesterol information from more than 32,000 adults between 2005 and 2016.
研究人员研究了美国疾病控制与预防中心的病例。这些病例跟踪了2005年到2016年之间32000多名成年人的胆固醇数据。
Among people taking statins, the average level of "bad" cholesterol dropped 21 points over the study period. Total cholesterol levels and another kind of fat in the blood also decreased.
服用他汀类药物的人群在研究期间的低密度脂蛋白平均水平下降了21%。血液中的总胆固醇水平以及另一种脂肪也有所下降。
The researchers reported their findings in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
研究人员在《美国心脏病学会杂志》上报告了他们的发现。
Dr. Michael Miller is a heart disease expert at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He was not involved with the study.
迈克尔·米勒博士是马里兰大学医学中心的心脏病专家。他没有参与这项研究。
Miller said, "these are surprisingly impressive results" that together predict a 15 to 20 percent reduction in risk of heart attacks and strokes.
米勒表示，“这些意外引人注目的研究结果”加起来预计可以让心脏病发作和中风的风险降低15%到20%。
In addition, there was an increase in statin use by people with diabetes. Over the study period, that number increased from less than half to over 60 percent.
此外，糖尿病患者对他汀类药物的使用也有所增加。在研究期间，该数字从不到一半增加到了60%以上。
"It's very important for those with a diagnosis of diabetes to not get that first heart attack," said Dr. Neil J. Stone of Northwestern University. Stone led the development of the 2013 guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. He also co-wrote an update last year.
美国西北大学的尼尔·斯通博士表示：“对糖尿病患者来说，杜绝心脏病的首次发作非常重要。”斯通主持了美国心脏病学会和美国心脏协会2013年胆固醇指南的制定。他也参与了去年胆固醇指南的更新。
Dr. Arora warned that other high-risk groups have not seen an increase in treatment. He added that still too many people do not know if they have a cholesterol problem.
阿罗拉博士警告说，对其它高危人群的治疗并未增加。他补充说，仍然有很多人不知道自己是否存在胆固醇问题。
The advice for patients? Dr. Miller suggested getting a cholesterol check if you have not had one recently.
对患者有什么建议？米勒博士建议如果你最近没查过胆固醇，就去查一下。