Is there a ‘sweet spot’ for LDL cholesterol?
A big population-based study finds the levels associated with the best survival but it depends on CVD risk
Really low LDL cholesterol is not necessarily optimum for all patients, with a level of 3.6mmol/L associated with the lowest risk of dying, according to a novel population-based study.
The large, prospective study in Denmark found a U-shaped curve suggesting people with either very high or very low levels of LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) are at greater risk of death from any cause over a decade.
More than 108,000 people aged 20-100 (median 58 years) in the Copenhagen General Population Study were followed for a median of 9.4 years to examine how death from all causes, CVD, cancer and other causes related to baseline levels of LDL-C.
For death from MI, the answer was clear, the lower the LDL-C, the lower the risk of death, the results showed.
