המידע באדיבות medicontext.co.il
Last Updated: 2001-08-02 18:30:23 EDT (Reuters Health)
LONDON (Reuters Health) – Contrary to widely held beliefs, low cholesterol levels may actually increase the risk of death for elderly people, according to a report published in the August 4th issue of The Lancet.
Dr. Irwin J. Schatz, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in Honolulu, and colleagues assessed the relationship between cholesterol levels and mortality in 3572 Japanese/American men, 71 to 93 years of age. Cholesterol measurements were made four times over approximately 20 years.
The researchers found that men in the lowest quartile of cholesterol level, between 2.09 and 4.32 mmol/L, were 28% to 40% more likely to die than men in the higher quartiles. Only men who had low cholesterol levels at their two most recent examinations had a significantly increased risk of death, the authors note.
"There are few studies that have cholesterol concentrations from the same patients at both middle age and old age," the investigators point out.
"Our data accord with previous findings of increased mortality in elderly people with low serum cholesterol, and show that long-term persistence of low cholesterol concentration actually increases risk of death," they state. "Thus, the earlier that patients start to have lower cholesterol concentrations, the greater the risk of death."
In light of the current findings, the authors question whether there is "scientific justification for attempts to lower cholesterol to concentrations below 4.65 mmol/L in elderly people." They conclude that "until more information about these complex relations is available, prudence dictates a more conservative approach in this age group."
Lancet 2001;358:351-355.
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