Ultra-Low LDL Cholesterol May Not Help

U.S. researchers conducted an extensive review of the medical literature and found no clear evidence to support ultra-low targets for LDL cholesterol.

Experts have suggested that some very high-risk patients achieve an ultra-low LDL target of 70 milligrams/deciliter, even if it means having to take multiple medications.

However, a team of researchers from the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the University of Michigan Health System did an exhaustive review of existing research on LDL cholesterol and heart health and conclude that there is no scientifically valid evidence to support the ultra-low LDL target of 70 milligrams/deciliter for very high-risk patients, according to the study in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Our review suggests that we in the medical community have misunderstood the scientific evidence on whether very low LDL is important, or whether adequate doses of statins are what is really important, says lead author Dr. Rodney Hayward.

Current practice guidelines and recommendations often focus on getting LDL as low as possible, but the literature to date doesn’t demonstrate that low LDL is what is truly important — but it does show that statins save lives in high cardiac risk patients regardless of a person’s LDL level.