Do I need to worry about lowering my blood cholesterol now that I'm over 65?
Answer: A study published in 1998, the Long-Term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) study, examined the effects of cholesterol lowering in people with CHD (those who had already experienced a heart attack or had been hospitalized for angina) and who had relatively average cholesterol levels. The LIPID study used a statin drug to lower cholesterol levels in the treatment group, which included people up to age 75. All study participants were counseled about following a cholesterol-lowering diet. The LIPID results showed that a drop of about 18 percent in total cholesterol and 25 percent in LDL-cholesterol produced a 24 percent decrease in deaths from CHD among the treatment group compared with the control group. Similarly, cholesterol-lowering in the treatment group reduced the overall death rate by 22 percent, heart attacks by 29 percent, the need for bypass surgery or angioplasty by 20 percent, and stroke by 19 percent. Cholesterol-lowering in the LIPID study resulted in significant reductions in CHD-related deaths and events without increasing non-CHD deaths.
