Cholesterol zegt weinig over risico
hartaanval, 75% van de patienten had normaal cholesterol !
A new national study has shown that nearly
75 percent of patients hospitalized for a heart attack had cholesterol levels that would
indicate they were not at high risk for a cardiovascular event, according to current
national cholesterol guidelines. Specifically, these patients had low-density lipoprotein
(LDL) cholesterol levels that met current guidelines, and close to half had LDL levels
classified in guidelines as optimal (less than 100 mg/dL). "Almost 75 percent of
heart attack patients fell within recommended targets for LDL cholesterol, demonstrating
that the current guidelines may not be low enough to cut heart attack risk in most who
could benefit," said Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, Eliot Corday Professor of Cardiovascular
Medicine and Science at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study's
principal investigator. While the risk of cardiovascular events increases substantially
with LDL levels above 40?? mg/dL, current national cholesterol guidelines consider LDL
levels less than 100 mg/dL acceptable for many individuals. The guidelines are thus not
effectively identifying the majority of individuals who will develop fatal and non-fatal
cardiovascular events, according to the study's authors. Researchers also found that
more than half of patients hospitalized for a heart attack had poor high-density
lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, according to national guidelines. Published in
the January issue of the American Heart Journal, the study suggests that lowering
guideline targets for LDL cholesterol for those at risk for cardiovascular disease, as
well as developing better treatments to raise HDL cholesterol, may help reduce the number
of patients hospitalized for heart attack in the future.
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