If a middle-aged person has very high 'bad' cholesterol but feels fine, they’re more than 2.6 times as likely to have early signs of heart artery buildup — even if everything else about their health...

Even if someone has very high 'bad' cholesterol, more than half of middle-aged people with no symptoms still show no signs of heart artery buildup — meaning their bodies might be naturally protecting them.

If a middle-aged person has higher 'bad' cholesterol, they're more likely to have buildup in their heart arteries — every 38.7-point rise means about a 17% higher chance of early heart disease signs, even if they already have symptoms.

If you're a middle-aged person with signs of heart disease and calcium in your arteries, having very high 'bad' cholesterol makes your risk of heart problems more than double. But if your arteries are clean, even sky-high cholesterol doesn’t seem to increase your risk.

Middle-aged Americans who feel fine but have high 'bad' cholesterol are more likely to have hidden heart artery plaque, especially if they already show signs of artery calcification — and those with very high cholesterol have the worst kinds of plaque.

Even in healthy middle-aged Americans with no calcium in their heart arteries, higher 'bad' cholesterol levels are linked to more plaque buildup in the heart's blood vessels.