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1: Lancet. 2001 Aug 4;358(9279):351-5.Click here to read Links
Comment in:
Lancet. 2001 Dec 1;358(9296):1903-4; author reply 1906.
Lancet. 2001 Dec 1;358(9296):1904-5; author reply 1906.
Lancet. 2001 Dec 1;358(9296):1904; author reply 1906.
Lancet. 2001 Dec 1;358(9296):1905-6.
Lancet. 2001 Dec 1;358(9296):1905; author reply 1906.
Lancet. 2001 Dec 1;358(9296):1906-7.
Lancet. 2001 Dec 1;358(9296):1907.

Cholesterol and all-cause mortality in elderly people from the Honolulu Heart Program: a cohort study.

Schatz IJ, Masaki K, Yano K, Chen R, Rodriguez BL, Curb JD.

Clinical Epidemiology and Geriatrics Division, Department of Medicine, John A Bums School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1356 Lusitana Street, 7th Floor, Honolulu, HI 96813-2427, USA. schatzi@hawaii.edu

BACKGROUND: A generally held belief is that cholesterol concentrations should be kept low to lessen the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, studies of the relation between serum cholesterol and all-cause mortality in elderly people have shown contrasting results. To investigate these discrepancies, we did a longitudinal assessment of changes in both lipid and serum cholesterol concentrations over 20 years, and compared them with mortality. METHODS: Lipid and serum cholesterol concentrations were measured in 3572 Japanese/American men (aged 71-93 years) as part of the Honolulu Heart Program. We compared changes in these concentrations over 20 years with all-cause mortality using three different Cox proportional hazards models. FINDINGS: Mean cholesterol fell significantly with increasing age. Age-adjusted mortality rates were 68.3, 48.9, 41.1, and 43.3 for the first to fourth quartiles of cholesterol concentrations, respectively. Relative risks for mortality were 0.72 (95% CI 0.60-0.87), 0.60 (0.49-0.74), and 0.65 (0.53-0.80), in the second, third, and fourth quartiles, respectively, with quartile 1 as reference. A Cox proportional hazard model assessed changes in cholesterol concentrations between examinations three and four. Only the group with low cholesterol concentration at both examinations had a significant association with mortality (risk ratio 1.64, 95% CI 1.13-2.36). INTERPRETATION: We have been unable to explain our results. These data cast doubt on the scientific justification for lowering cholesterol to very low concentrations (<4.65 mmol/L) in elderly people.

PMID: 11502313 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]