Tests uncover 'hidden' extent of high cholesterol, diabetes Australian Bureau of Statistics: 1 in 3 Australians have high cholesterol. Nine in 10 Australians with high cholesterol don't know it, and one in five adults with diabetes are unaware they have the condition. The startling findings, released by the Bureau of Statistics on Monday, are derived from blood and urine tests taken from more than 11,000 people. For the first time, the bureau conducted biomedical tests to get an accurate picture of the nation's health. Until now, the national health survey, released every four years, has relied on observations from survey respondents. The test results indicated one in three Australians adults, or about 5.6 million people, had high total cholesterol levels. But only one in 10 people in this group were aware of it. Elevated cholesterol is a big risk factor for heart disease and strokes. Robert Grenfell, the national director of cardiovascular health at the Heart Foundation, which sponsored the tests with the bureau and the federal health department, said the results were a "wake-up call." "This a real problem for Australia and will lead us to quite substantial healthcare costs in the future," he said. Dr Grenfell said the results showed the need for more routine heart health checks. He said while more than 50 per cent of at-risk New Zealanders had such checks, estimates suggested only 5 per cent to 10 per cent of at-risk Australians had their GP check their heart health. Political leadership was needed to create incentives for doctors to perform the checks, and to encourage patients to get checks, Dr Grenfell said. "If we know that someone with high cholesterol and other heart attack risk factors is going to go and have heart disease in the next five to 10 years, why do we sit back and wait for it to happen and then spend hundreds of millions of dollars on their care in hospital?" he said. In other findings, for every four people diagnosed with diabetes, another three were found to be at high risk. One in 10 people showed signs of chronic kidney disease. Of this group, four in 10 were unaware of the problem. Three in four Australians aged 45 or over were found to have risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or high fat levels in the blood. The prognosis for younger people was not much better: nearly half of those under 45 had at least one risk factor for heart disease.