Elevated concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) are highly prevalent and are associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases.

To estimate the proportion of cardiovascular disease cases attributable to high concentrations of LDL-C (population attributable fraction [PAF]) in France in 2017, based on the most recent individual data on LDL-C, and the attributable burden on hospitalizations and death.

We estimated the PAF of high LDL-C concentrations for ischaemic heart disease (IHD), ischaemic stroke and aortic valve stenosis (AVS). Distributions of LDL-C concentrations were obtained from the most recent French health examination representative survey (ESTEBAN). The relative risks of each disease per 1-mmol/L increase in blood LDL-C were obtained either from the most appropriate meta-analyses or from Mendelian randomization.

The PAF of high LDL-C concentrations varied between 44.2% (95% CI 24.6%–60.5%) for IHD-related death and 49.4% (95% CI 35.6–60.8%) for IHD-related years-of-life lost (YLL), 22.5% (95% CI 0.0–43.3%) and 25.5% (95% CI 11.6–36.8%) for ischaemic stroke indicators, and 29.0% (95% CI 8.6–45.4%) and 29.3% (95% CI 8.4–45.6%) for AVS indicators. Overall, 230,000 hospitalizations, 1,303,000 prevalent cases and 23,000 deaths were estimated to be attributable to high LDL-C concentrations, with most cases related to IHD. PAFs were similar across sex and cardiovascular diseases, whereas PAF strongly varied with age for IHD and ischaemic stroke, with PAF reaching 80.6% (95% CI 55.3–92.7%) and 60.9% (95% CI 33.8–80.8%), respectively, in the group aged 35–44 years.

The high estimated PAF of elevated LDL-C concentrations for IHD, ischaemic stroke and AVS support the urgent need to reduce the prevalence of hypercholesterolaemia in this French population.