[Cholesterol, atherosclerosis and cerebro-cardiovascular complications in 3,236 elderly autopsy cases]

The effect of serum cholesterol on aortic, cerebral, coronary and femoral atherosclerosis as well as on the incidence of cerebral and myocardial infarctions were analyzed in 3,236 consecutive autopsies in the elderly. Serum cholesterol levels declined over the age of 80 in both genders. The cholesterol levels of females were significantly higher than that of males in each age group from the sixties through the nineties. The increase in serum cholesterol was correlated with the progression of coronary atherosclerosis in both genders, but not with cerebral or femoral atherosclerosis. Slight progression of aortic atherosclerosis was observed when serum cholesterol was over 160 mg/dl. Cholesterol induced progression of coronary atherosclerosis was found in cases with hypertension, but not in the normotensive group. In accordance with the progression of coronary atherosclerosis, the incidence of myocardial infarction increased with an elevation of serum cholesterol levels, and this relationship between myocardial infarction and cholesterol levels was found only in patients with hypertension. No correlation was found between the incidence of cerebral infarction and serum cholesterol levels. It was concluded that hypercholesterolemia in the elderly is a risk factor of myocardial infarction in cases with hypertension, but is not a risk factor of cerebral infarction.