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LDL cholesterol and triglycerides are harmful. Higher values of those cause higher risk of coronary artery disease and earlier death. HDL cholesterol ("good cho
by carbocation 10y ago
LDL cholesterol and triglycerides are harmful. Higher values of those cause higher risk of coronary artery disease and earlier death. HDL cholesterol ("good cholesterol") appears to have no effect, at least the scalar quantity that we measure with current lab tests.
Statins reduce risk of death in proportion to their reduction of LDL cholesterol, so most likely this effect is a consequence of decreased LDL cholesterol.
- no_flags 10y agoNot sure why you say HDL has no effect. Ratios of "bad" to "good" markers have been shown to be much better predictors of risk than any one number on its own, even LDL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRFRRqe0vrE&t=924s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRFRRqe0vrE&t=924s You should also take a look at the latest risk calculator derived from the Framingham Heart Study. It's basically a multivariate regression of various risk factors against CVD risk. Total cholesterol and HDL are inputs, while trigs and LDL aren't used. They do of course factor into total cholesterol, but the researchers specifically stated that "The use of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol did not improve model fit or performance." http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/117/6/743.long http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/117/6/743.long