Cholesterol Medicine Study
Association Between Achieved Low-Density Lipoprotein Levels and Major Adverse Cardiac Events in Patients With Stable Ischemic Heart Disease Taking Statin Treatment.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
No significant benefit for LDL-C levels ≤70 mg/dL compared to 70-100 mg/dL
Contradicts international guidelines recommending very low LDL-C targets for heart patients
Practical Takeaways
Heart patients on statins should discuss optimal LDL-C targets with their doctors rather than assuming lower is always better
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
No significant benefit for LDL-C levels ≤70 mg/dL compared to 70-100 mg/dL
Contradicts international guidelines recommending very low LDL-C targets for heart patients
Practical Takeaways
Heart patients on statins should discuss optimal LDL-C targets with their doctors rather than assuming lower is always better
Publication
Journal
JAMA internal medicine
Year
2016
Authors
M. Leibowitz, Tomas Karpati, Chandra J. Cohen-Stavi, B. Feldman, M. Hoshen, H. Bitterman, S. Suissa, R. Balicer
Related Content
Claims (4)
People with heart disease who take statin drugs and get their bad cholesterol down to a lower range (70-100) are less likely to have serious heart problems than those with slightly higher cholesterol (100-130).
For heart disease patients on statin drugs, having very low cholesterol levels doesn't seem to make a big difference in heart problems compared to having slightly higher levels, according to a large study.
A study of over 30,000 heart disease patients on statins suggests that aiming for very low cholesterol levels might not be necessary for everyone, even though guidelines recommend it.
About half of the people who have serious heart problems also have low 'bad' cholesterol levels.