The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Low cholesterol leads to 80% higher death rates from nonvascular causes

This study was published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 1997;17:1224-1232

Study title and authors:
Effect of Serum Lipids, Lipoproteins, and Apolipoproteins on Vascular and Nonvascular Mortality in the Elderly
I. Räihä; J. Marniemi; P. Puukka; T. Toikka; C. Ehnholm; ; L. Sourander
From the Department of Geriatrics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland (I.R., L.S.); the Research and Development Centre of the Social Insurance Institution, Turku, Finland (J.M., P.P., T.T.); and the Department of Biochemistry, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland (C.E.).


The purpose of this 11 year study was to determine the effect of cholesterol levels on mortality rates from vascular and nonvascular causes. The study included 347 individuals aged 65 years or older. Vascular causes included heart disease, heart failure, stroke etc .

The study found:
(a) Nonvascular causes of death were 80% higher for those with the lowest cholesterol (less than 5.0 mmol/l or 193 mg/dL) compared with those of the highest cholesterol (over 8.0 mmol/l or 309 mg/dL).
(b) Vascular causes of death were 30% higher for those with the lowest cholesterol (less than 5.0 mmol/l or 193 mg/dL) compared with those of the highest cholesterol (over 8.0 mmol/l or 309 mg/dL).

The results of the study revealed that low cholesterol levels are associated with higher death rates .

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