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Widespread public education programs to encourage cholesterol screening do not generally issue different recommendations for different age groups. However, this prospective cohort study found that cholesterol levels do not predict morbidity or mortality in the elderly.
Researchers studied 997 people who had their cholesterol levels measured as part of a longitudinal epidemiologic program in New Haven, Conn., in 1988. The mean age was 79 years, and 15 percent of subjects had a history of myocardial infarction. During the next four years, 24 percent of the subjects died, including 4 percent who died from coronary heart disease. No association was found between elevated total serum cholesterol and any outcome, including myocardial infarction an…