Which cholesterol level is related to the lowest mortality

[Guest guest]

I thought some in the group might be interested in this medical abstract

I recently ran into. Note that the number of men in the study is very

large. Also note the very last sentence. The cholesterol that gave the

longest life (lowest mortality) was in the range of 211 to 251 in a 6+

year follow up, a number well above where doctors start telling you that

you are putting your life in danger if you don't get on a statin

immediately.

Steve

Which cholesterol level is related to the lowest mortality in a

population with low mean cholesterol level: a 6.4-year follow-up study

of 482,472 Korean men.

Song YM, Sung J, Kim JS.

Department of Family Medicine, SungKyunKwan University School of

Medicine, Suwon, Korea. ymsong@...

To evaluate the relation between low cholesterol level and mortality,

the authors followed 482,472 Korean men aged 30-65 years from 1990 to

1996 after a baseline health examination. The mean cholesterol level of

the men was 189.1 mg/100 ml at the baseline measurement. There were

7,894 deaths during the follow-up period. A low cholesterol level (<165

mg/100 ml) was associated with increased risk of total mortality, even

after eliminating deaths that occurred in the first 5 years of

follow-up. The risk of death from coronary heart disease increased

significantly in men with the highest cholesterol level (> or =252

mg/100 ml). There were various relations between cholesterol level and

cancer mortality by site. Mortality from liver and colon cancer was

significantly associated with a very low cholesterol level (<135 mg/100

ml) without any evidence of a preclinical cholesterol-lowering effect.

With lengthening follow-up, the significant relation between a very low

cholesterol level (<135 mg/100 ml) and mortality from stomach and

esophageal cancer disappeared. The cholesterol level related with the

lowest mortality ranged from 211 to 251 mg/100 ml, which was higher than

the mean cholesterol level of study subjects.

PMID: 10965970 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

--

Steve - dudescholar4@...

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