[Cholesterolemia and ischemic cardiopathy: a causal relationship]

A consistent pool of data obtained in epidemiological and in intervention studies suggests that increased levels of plasma cholesterol are associated to an increased incidence of coronary events. Studies in which a reduction of cholesterol plasma levels was obtained with different approaches (using drugs, diets, surgical procedures) indicate that this reduction, whatever the technique adopted to obtain it, favorably affects the natural history of the atherosclerotic disease in human patients. This information, together with the biochemical evidences linking plasma lipids and lipoproteins with the process of atherogenesis, strongly supports the view that hypercholesterolemia is a causal factor in the development of coronary heart disease in man.