Don't give up on healthy cholesterol - ESC

Monday July 26th, 2010

European experts have urged medical researchers not to abandon the study of the healthy form of cholesterol - following suggestions it might not be relevant.

Earlier studies of cholesterol have highlighted that raising levels of one form of cholesterol, HDL, might help reduce heart disease risk - alongside reducing levels of LDL, the unhealthy form of the substance.

But new research, published last week, said that when LDL was lowered with drugs, HDL made little difference to a patient's survival.

The findings came from an analysis of the Jupiter trial of cholesterol treatment reported by The Lancet.

The European Society of Cardiology said the finding could be a statistical freak.

Professor Dan Atar, of Oslo University Hospital, Norway, said: "It’s a matter of statistics. If you’re looking at populations with a very low incidence of cardiovascular events, and then with an intervention of any kind you reduce the risk of events even further, it’s logical that you’ll washout the influence of any other effect.

"These patients already have achieved such low levels of LDL that no other marker will prevail as a predictor of the few remaining events."

The ESC said it wanted to continue research into the benefits of increasing HDL levels.

Professor Atar said a 25,000 patient trial of HLD-raising treatment would give a "clearer indication" of whether this had any benefits.

The Lancet. Published Online July 22, 2010DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60713-1

Tags: Diet & Food | Europe | Heart Health | Pharmaceuticals

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