Assessing Late Life Cardiovascular Risk from Mid-Life Cholesterol Levels

Researchers here use data on cholesterol and health assessed in a large patient population over a 40 year period in order to determine how the risk of suffering atherosclerosis by age 75 varies with cholesterol levels assessed in the 30s and 40s. It is no surprise that higher cholesterol levels mean a greater risk of atherosclerosis, the development of fatty lesions that narrow and weaken blood vessels. The condition is one in which the macrophage cells responsible for removing these unwanted lipids from blood vessel walls are made dysfunctional by rising levels of oxidized cholesterol. The more cholesterol in the blood stream, the more oxidized cholesterol, all other things being equal. Using data for individuals without prevalent cardiovascular disease, we characterised the age-specific and sex-specific long-term association of non-HDL cholesterol with cardiovascular disease. On the basis of this association, we derived and validated a tool specific for age, sex, and cardiovascular risk factors to assess the individual long-term probability of cardiovascular disease by the age of 75 years associated with non-HDL cholesterol. Further, we modelled the potentially achievable long-term cardiovascular disease risk, assuming a 50% reduction of non-HDL cholesterol. Considerable uncertainty exists about the extent to which slightly increased or apparently normal cholesterol concentrations affect lifetime cardiovascular risk and about which thresholds should be used ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs