MedWire News: Most women are concerned about the damaging health effects of high cholesterol levels, but few make any effort to understand and control their cholesterol levels, survey results show.

Indeed, the Society for Women's Health Research found that women aged 45 years and younger were more likely to know how much they weighed in high school than their current cholesterol measurements.

Researchers from the society surveyed more than 500 women, aged 45 years and younger, about their knowledge of cholesterol.

They found that although 57% of respondents were worried that high cholesterol levels may affect their health, just 21% knew their current cholesterol levels and just over half had ever had their cholesterols levels measured.

The survey also revealed that 21% of the women did not know that cholesterol can harden the body's arteries and lead to heart attacks and strokes, while 44% did not know that high cholesterol has no symptoms.

Nearly half of respondents were not familiar with the terms low-density lipoprotein, commonly called 'bad' cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein, which is also known as 'good' cholesterol.

However, almost all the women knew that regular exercise and a healthy diet could help reduce cholesterol levels.

"Clearly, we've got a long way to go in educating women from their college years to their mid-40s about the risks of high cholesterol and the importance of tracking cholesterol throughout adulthood," said Phyllis Greenberger, president and chief executive officer of the Society for Women's Health Research.

"Knowing your cholesterol number is the first step in managing cholesterol. That number is certainly more important than what you weighed in high school."