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Back to Study: Extent of Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Redu...
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Analysis v1
Strong Opposition

Taking medicines to lower bad cholesterol can cut your risk of a heart attack by about a quarter, and the more you lower your cholesterol — especially by more than half or over 65 points — the better your protection, even if those drugs don’t always help you live longer.

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Pro
80
Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (0)

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Community contributions welcome

No supporting evidence found

Contradicting (1)

80

Community contributions welcome

80

Extent of Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Reduction and All-cause and Cardiovascular Mortality Benefit: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis
Human
2023 Jan 1

This study looked at whether lowering cholesterol more reduces deaths, but it didn’t show that lowering cholesterol more reduces heart attacks by 23% — which is what the claim says. So it doesn’t back up the claim.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Extent of Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Reduction and All-cause and Cardiovascular Mortality Benefit: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Score: 80
DOI: 10.1097/FJC.0000000000001345

Similar Assertions

When people lower their 'bad' cholesterol to very low levels using strong medications, they have fewer heart attacks and strokes than those with higher cholesterol levels.

59
0
75%

If you wait to take proven heart medications and instead rely on supplements that haven’t been shown to work, you’re putting yourself at higher risk for a heart attack or stroke that could have been avoided.

1
0
73%

People who take strong cholesterol-lowering drugs to get their LDL very low don’t stop taking them more often because of side effects than those on regular doses.

59
0
73%

Lowering your 'bad' cholesterol by just a little bit—about 1 mmol/L—can cut your risk of serious heart problems like heart attacks or strokes by roughly 22%, and this has been seen again and again in big studies with hundreds of thousands of people.

48
0
71%

Taking statins to lower your 'bad' cholesterol by a small amount can cut your chance of having a heart attack by nearly half—even if you're not at high risk for heart disease yet.

76
0
71%