Majority of people with high cholesterol levels do not receive the treatment they need to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke, an international study has found.

"Many of these people - living in England, Germany, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Scotland, Thailand and the United States of America - are unaware that they need treatment, which is easily accessible in the form of low-cost medicines," says the study published in the International Public Health Journal, the bulletin of the World Heath Organisation (WHO).

According to the largest-ever study - covering 147 million people - 78 per cent of adults who were surveyed in Thailand had not been diagnosed, while 53 per cent of Japanese who had been diagnosed remained untreated.

"Cholesterol-lowering medication is widely available, highly effective and can play an essential role in reducing cardiovascular disease around the world," says co-author, Gregory A Roth, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in USA. "Despite this, effective medication coverage for control of high cholesterol remains disappointingly low." he added.