J-LIT update

Here's a quick update on the J-LIT study using low dose simvastatin for primary prevention of heart disease.

My thanks to Stan for pointing out that I missed the six fold increase in risk of CARDIOVASCULAR mortality in the lowest cholesterol group compared to the "normal" (200-219mg/dl) cholesterol group in this study.

There it is in Table 6 on page 1092. For goodness sake, it's on the first line! I must have been asleep when I read the paper:

Cardiac mortality relative risk was 6.23 in patients who's cholesterol dropped below 160mg/dl compared to those with TC 200-219mg/dl.

That is; you are more than six times as likely to be dead of a cardiovascular problem if your TC dropped to a level to make the average cardiologist grudgingly happy.

Boy, when you need cholesterol, you need it.

Peter