The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined LDL cholesterol levels among more than 7,000 men and women across four study cycles: 1999-2000, 2001-2002, 2003-2004 and 2005-2006. Rates of high LDL cholesterol decreased from 31.5 percent in 1999-2000 to 21.2 percent in 2005-2006. Yet researchers from the federal government found that many people had elevated rates of bad cholesterol, particularly those at the highest risk for developing heart disease. Fewer than 70 percent of adults were screened for cholesterol levels in the 2005-2006 period. During that study period, 64.5 percent of people received cholesterol screening, 39.6 percent were screened but were untreated or inadequately treated and 24.9 percent were not told the results of screening. In two commentaries accompanying the study, experts noted that cholesterol screening guidelines should be simplified so that more people receive statins. Dr. J. Michael Gaziano and Dr. Thomas A. Gaziano noted in one editorial that the last set of cholesterol guidelines, published in 2002, was 280 pages long. The guidelines are not only complicated but are far from perfect, sometimes leading doctors to prescribe statins to someone with elevated LDL cholesterol but an overall low risk of heart disease and not prescribing drugs to someone with normal LDL cholesterol but an overall high risk of developing heart disease. Another approach to treating cholesterol, said the authors of the other commentary, is to prescribe generic statins to all adults based on age. This approach may be justified, they said, in light of the large number of people who could benefit from statins but aren't taking them; statins have been shown to be safe, and generic versions of the medications are inexpensive. However, that approach may be overly simplistic, said Michael Gaziano and Thomas Gaziano. Arbitrary LDL thresholds for prescribing statins should be abandoned, they said. 'The guideline should begin with simple risk assessment with the goal of classifying patients into only two strata: those for whom lipid-lowering therapy should be considered and those for whom it is not warranted,' they wrote. 'The use of a simplified risk-based approach could increase the ease of implementation of treatment and increase the number of patients receiving beneficial lipid-lowering therapy.' 