Dyslipidaemia

Dyslipidaemia, an inappropriate shift in the lipid profile balance of the blood, is usually defined as elevated serum total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations and reduced high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (1). In Denmark, high cholesterol is usually defined as when serum LDL cholesterol is higher than 3 mmol/L and other heart disease risk factors are also present, which is the case for more than 2 million Danish people. LDL cholesterol plays a key role in the accumulation of cholesterol in the arterial walls, and elevated serum LDL cholesterol is a primary cause in the development
of atherosclerosis (2). This is why reducing serum LDL cholesterol is a primary
goal in the clinical treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis-induced cardiovascular diseases, especially heart attack, stroke and peripheral artery disease. It should be mentioned that LDL cholesterol particles come in
different sizes, which also plays a role in their harmful effect. Pharmacological treatment with statins effectively reduces serum LDL cholesterol (26-35%) and total cholesterol (20-25%) and reduces the risk of atherosclerosis-induced cardiovascular disease by 31% (3). Another effective treatment is physical exercise, which reduces serum LDL cholesterol concentration and has a number of other beneficial effects in preventing cardiovascular disease (4). Thus, the overall evidence suggests that a combination of exercise (strength training, endurance training, etc.) is most effective in reducing LDL cholesterol concentrations (5).