Cholesterol Lowering Can Reduce Mortality: Results of a Meta-Analysis

But investigators argue that mortality improvement occurs only when baseline LDL is over 100 mg/dL.

The earliest lipid-lowering trials enrolled individuals with very high cholesterol levels and found robust reductions in cardiovascular events. Some studies even saw a mortality benefit. More-recent trials compared more-intensive with less-intensive treatments to lower LDL; these trials continued to find reductions in cardiovascular events but not mortality. Hypothesizing that the lack of mortality benefit might be due to the newer trials' inclusion of individuals with much lower baseline LDL levels, investigators evaluated mortality outcomes in relation to baseline LDL levels in a trial-level meta-analysis. The analysis included 34 randomized trials of more- versus less-intensive lipid-lowering treatments involving 270,288 participants.

All…

Reviewing Author

Karol E. Watson, MD, PhD, FACC

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBoehringer Ingelheim; Amgen; Novartis; Lilly; Amarin

Speaker’s BureauBoehringer Ingelheim

Grant/Research SupportNIH

Editorial BoardsCirculation (Associate Editor)