Is Focus on Heart Attack Risk More Effective Than Cholesterol Level for Treatment?
A new study by the University of Michigan (U-M) Medical School and Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System challenges the medical thinking that the lower the cholesterol, the better. Tailoring treatment to a patients overall heart attack risk, by considering factors such as age, family history and smoking status, was more effective, and used fewer high-dose statins, than current strategies to drive down cholesterol to a certain target, according to the U-M study. While study authors support the use of cholesterol-lowering statins, they conclude that patients and their doctors should consider all the factors that put them at risk for heart attack and strokes. The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends harmful LDL cholesterol levels should be less than 130 for most people. High risk patients should be pushed even lower — to less than 70. The U-M study, though, took a different approach called tailored treatment, which uses a persons risk factors and mathematical models to
