Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website to its version as of 12:00 AM on January 29, 2025. Information on this page may be modified and/or removed in the future subject to the terms of the court’s order and implemented consistent with applicable law. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from truth. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology due to the harms and divisiveness it causes. This page does not reflect reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Reduce cholesterol in adults — HDS‑06 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About this objective  |  Methodology  |  History

About this objective

Data

Data Source:  National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), CDC/NCHS

National baseline: 190.9 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) was the mean total blood cholesterol level for adults aged 20 years and over in 2013-16

National target: 186.4 mg/dL

Numerator
Sum of all serum cholesterol values for adults aged 20 years and over.
Denominator
Number of serum cholesterol measurements for adults aged 20 years and over.
National target-setting method
Projection
National target-setting method details
Linear trend fitted using weighted least squares and a projection at the 50 percent prediction interval.
1
National target-setting method justification
Trend data were evaluated for this objective. Using historical data points, a trend line was fitted using weighted least squares, and the trend was projected into the next decade. This method was used because three or more comparable data points were available, the projected value was within the range of possible values, and a projection at the 50 percent prediction interval was selected because no additional information could be used to assess the trend line, so the target was based on the projection.
National data collection frequency
Annual

Methodology

Methodology notes

Total cholesterol is a combination of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL). Total blood cholesterol is measured enzymatically in a series of coupled reactions. A description of the laboratory procedures for the total cholesterol measurement in NHANES is published by NCHS.

Design changes were made to the August 2021-2023 NHANES cycle to minimize in-person contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Refer to the Data Source page for more information. Unlike previous cycles, there was no oversampling of persons with family incomes <185% of the poverty threshold. This may result in lower confidence in the estimate and insufficient power to detect differences between groups. In addition, seventeen percent of interview participants had missing family income data.

Reference: See Ogden et al. for more discussion about estimates by race and ethnicity using August 2021–August 2023 NHANES data: Ogden CL, Emmerich SD, Stierman B, Chen T-C, Simon AE, Freedman DS, et al. Obesity among children and adolescents in NHANES August 2021–August 2023: An examination of race/Hispanic origin subgroup estimates. Pediatr Obes. 2025 Oct;20(10):e70041. DOI: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijpo.70041

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijpo.70041

Age-adjustment notes

This Indicator uses Age-Adjustment Groups:

  • Total: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Sex: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Race/Ethnicity: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Educational Attainment: 25-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Family Income (percent poverty guidelines): 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Health Insurance Status: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-64
  • Marital Status: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Country of Birth: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Veteran Status: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Activity Limitations: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+
  • Obesity Status: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80+

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Retained, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 with no change in measurement.

1. Because Healthy People 2030 objectives have a desired direction (e.g., increase or decrease), the confidence level of a one-sided prediction interval can be used as an indication of how likely a target will be to achieve based on the historical data and fitted trend.