More than half of heart disease patients admitted to the hospital have low levels of 'good' cholesterol, which is considered unhealthy.
Scientific Claim
More than half of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease have admission high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels below 40 mg/dL.
Original Statement
“High-density lipoprotein cholesterol was <40 mg/dL in 54.6% of patients.”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design cannot support claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
The claim is a direct quote of a descriptive statistic from the abstract. No causal or predictive language is used, and the verb strength is appropriately conservative.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Lipid levels in patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease: an analysis of 136,905 hospitalizations in Get With The Guidelines.
The study looked at over 136,000 heart disease patients and found that more than half had low 'good' cholesterol (HDL) when they were admitted to the hospital — specifically below 40 mg/dL, which matches the claim.