Posted by ed_uk2010 on December 2, 2013, at 11:35:15
In reply to Re: How ridiculous » SLS, posted by Phillipa on November 15, 2013, at 8:48:22
Hi Phillipa,
Unless your lipids are grossly abnormal (which they are not), using lipids in isolation is not a good predictor of cardiovascular risk. All major risk factors need to be taken into account...
1. Weight/BMI.
2. Smoking.
3. Exercise habits.
4. Diet
5. Diabetes (or not)
6. Male or female (pre- or post-menopausal)
7. Blood pressure.
8. Family history.
9. Personal history eg. prior cardiovascular event.Statins can be useful for pts who have marginally high LDL cholesterol only if other risk factors are high. Statins are not useful for pts whose risk factors are very low apart from mildly elevated cholesterol. Obviously, if LDL is grossly high (often genetic), statins are Rxed even in the absence of other risk factors.
Basically, statins are useful for most pts at high cardiovascular risk, regardless of their precise cholesterol level (unless it is actually low, which it rarely is in high risk pts)!
poster:ed_uk2010
thread:1053481
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20131115/msgs/1055210.html