UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular MedicineDocument Type
EditorialPublication Date
2015-06-18Keywords
Acute Coronary SyndromesCoronary Disease
Myocardial Infarction
Lipids
Prevention
Cardiology
Cardiovascular Diseases
Lipids
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The so-called LDL hypothesis is the concept that excess low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is a causal factor in the development of atherosclerotic vascular disease. By extension, this hypothesis also assumes that reducing LDL cholesterol levels, regardless of the means, should produce a corresponding reduction in cardiovascular events. Considerable evidence supports the LDL hypothesis, including animal studies and epidemiologic studies involving humans, as well as clinical trials of both statins and nonstatin lipid-modifying agents. In a meta-analysis that included more than 90,000 participants in 14 randomized trials of statins, the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ (CTT) collaborators found that, on average, a reduction of 1 mmol per liter (38.7 mg per deciliter) in LDL cholesterol levels yields a consistent 23% reduction in the risk of major coronary events over 5 years.Source
N Engl J Med. 2015 Jun 18;372(25):2448-50. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe1507041. Epub 2015 Jun 3. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1056/NEJMe1507041Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/26412PubMed ID
26039520Related Resources
Rights
Copyright © 2015 Massachusetts Medical Society. Publisher PDF posted after 6 months as allowed by the publisher's author rights policy at https://www.nejm.org/page/author-center/permissions.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1056/NEJMe1507041