Health Claims

Can someone be perfectly healthy even if their 'bad' cholesterol is super low—like 14 mg/dL?

Descriptive

For adults with a genetic cholesterol problem who are already taking cholesterol pills, adding a daily 20 mg pill called enlicitide for 6 months cuts a harmful type of blood fat (lipoprotein(a)) by about a quarter—way more than a dummy pill does.

Quantitative

For adults with a genetic cholesterol problem who are already on cholesterol meds, taking a pill called enlicitide every day for 6 months might drastically lower a key heart disease risk protein in their blood.

Quantitative

For adults with a genetic cholesterol problem and already taking statins, adding a pill called enlicitide every day for 6 months slashed bad cholesterol levels by over half, while a fake pill barely changed anything.

Quantitative

For people with a genetic cholesterol problem who are already on cholesterol meds, taking a pill called enlicitide every day for a year keeps their bad cholesterol way down — cutting it by more than half — while those not taking it see their levels go up.

Quantitative

For people with a genetic cholesterol problem who are already on cholesterol pills, taking a new drug called enlicitide every day for 6 months might slash their bad cholesterol way more than just the usual treatment alone.

Quantitative

Taking ezetimibe doesn’t seem to raise your chances of getting cancer, diabetes, broken bones, or brain-related issues, based on a big review of studies that looked at thousands of people over time.

Correlational

For people with kidney disease, taking simvastatin and ezetimibe together cuts their risk of heart attacks and strokes by 17% without causing more muscle or cancer problems.

Quantitative

If you have high cholesterol and can't take statins, taking a drug called ezetimibe by itself might lower your 'bad' cholesterol by about 18.6%—and it’s just as safe and easy to handle as a sugar pill.

Quantitative

For people who've had a recent heart problem, taking ezetimibe with their cholesterol medicine (a statin) helps prevent heart attacks and strokes over 7 years — and doesn't seem to cause extra cancer or liver issues.

Causal

For people with heart disease, taking a combo of two cholesterol drugs (ezetimibe plus a mid-strength statin) works about as well as a strong statin alone at lowering bad cholesterol, helps more people stay on the treatment, and might be easier on the body.

Quantitative

For people with heart disease from clogged arteries, keeping bad cholesterol really low—below 55—might be better for your kidneys than keeping it just under 70, especially if you're getting procedures to open up blood vessels.

Causal

If you have heart disease from clogged arteries, getting your bad cholesterol down to around 56 mg/dL instead of 66 mg/dL can cut your risk of heart attacks or strokes by about a third over three years. For every 32 people treated this way, one person avoids a major heart problem.

Causal

For people with heart disease from clogged arteries, getting their bad cholesterol down to around 56 doesn’t cause more serious side effects than staying at 66, and it’s safe to keep it that low for at least three years.

Quantitative

For people who already have heart disease, aiming to get their 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) below 55 mg/dL cuts their risk of serious heart problems by about one-third over three years compared to aiming for below 70 mg/dL — and it doesn’t seem to cause more side effects.

Causal

Even if your blood sugar isn’t high enough to be diagnosed with a problem, it might still be quietly harming your blood vessels as you get older.

Correlational

Even if middle-aged guys and gals have no obvious heart risks, men and older people are more likely to have hidden artery buildup — and so are those with higher 'bad' cholesterol.

Correlational

Even if your heart looks healthy and you have no major risk factors, higher 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) — even when it's considered 'normal' — is linked to more hidden artery buildup. For every 10-point rise in LDL, the odds go up by about 15%.

Quantitative

Even if you're a middle-aged adult with normal cholesterol and no obvious heart disease risks, there's almost a 50% chance you already have early signs of heart disease, like buildup in your arteries.

Quantitative

Taking a drug called evolocumab every two weeks is just as safe as taking a fake pill (placebo) for people with certain heart risks — there’s no real difference in side effects after nearly 5 years.

Descriptive

For people at high risk for heart problems because of diabetes or clogged arteries, taking a drug called evolocumab every two weeks can lower their chances of having a heart attack, stroke, or needing heart surgery by about 1 in 5 over nearly 5 years, compared to those who don’t take it.

Causal

For people with diabetes or clogged arteries who haven’t had a heart attack or stroke yet, taking a drug called evolocumab every two weeks can lower their chance of having a first heart attack, stroke, or heart-related death by about 25% over nearly 5 years.

Causal

For people with heart disease who are on cholesterol-lowering drugs, adding a drug called evolocumab doesn’t raise their risk of serious side effects like diabetes or memory problems — the only real downside is a slightly higher chance of soreness at the injection site.

Quantitative

Even if your cholesterol is already pretty low thanks to statins, adding a drug called evolocumab can still help protect your heart and blood vessels.

Causal