People with even moderately high cholesterol levels in their 30s and 40s are more likely to have heart disease later in life, according to a new study. But many of them wouldn’t meet the criteria for treatment under guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC).

Abiomed raises revenue outlook, wins US approval for heart pump

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Using data from 1,478 adults without heart disease at age 55, the researchers found that heart disease eventually developed in about 4 percent of those who always had good cholesterol levels, 8 percent of those who'd had high cholesterol for one to 10 years and 17 percent of those with high cholesterol for 11 to 20 years.

But only one in six of the people with high cholesterol would have met the recommendations for statin use at age 40. That increased to one in three people by age 50, the researchers reported in the journal Circulation.

Statins are not free of risks; rarely, they can cause liver or muscle problems, high blood sugar, or memory issues.