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Published on: November 10, 2017
The management of hyperlipidemia: whether, rather than how
Insights
The Lipid Hypothesis, suggesting lower plasma lipids reduce heart disease, needs reconsideration. Current evidence is insufficient, requiring further trials to adequately test this premise.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Lipidology
- Clinical Trials
Background:
- The Lipid Hypothesis posits that reducing plasma lipids lowers coronary heart disease (CHD) events.
- Recent large-scale drug trials prompt a re-evaluation of this established premise.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review existing evidence testing the Lipid Hypothesis through dietary and drug interventions.
- To assess the adequacy of current data supporting the Lipid Hypothesis.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of published evidence from large-scale, double-blind drug trials.
- Analysis of data from dietary and drug intervention studies.
Main Results:
- The current body of evidence is insufficient to adequately test the Lipid Hypothesis.
- Existing trials have not definitively proven the link between lipid reduction and CHD event reduction.
Conclusions:
- The Lipid Hypothesis requires further rigorous testing.
- A phased program is proposed to prepare for a definitive future trial, focusing on patient adherence and regimen safety.
Abstract:
The premise that measures used to lower the plasma lipids in patients with hyperlipidemia will lead to reductions in new events of coronary heart disease (the Lipid Hypothesis) should be reconsidered today as a result of several recent reports of large-scale double-blind drug trials in the United Kingdom and in the United States. To that end, the published evidence that bears on tests of the hypothesis by dietary and drug interventions is reviewed, and the conclusion reached that the hypothesis has not yet been adequately tested. A phased program is described that will prepare the ground for a fuller and more definitive trial of the premise in the future: the first steps must be to establish that a combined diet/drug regimen in large numbers of adult male hyperlipidemic patients is acceptable and essentially harmless and that during an observation period of several years a high rate of adherence to the regimen can be attained. Any advice to the general public to make large dietary changes now is considered premature.
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