Study title and authors:
Cholesterol and mortality. 30 years of follow-up from the Framingham study.
Anderson KM, Castelli WP, Levy D.
The paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3560398?holding=ukpmc
Over a 4 year period cholesterol levels were measured in 1959 men and 2415 women aged between 31 and 65 years who were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The study found:
(a) There is a direct association between falling cholesterol levels over the first 14 years and an increase in total death rates over the following 18 years (11% increase per 1 mg/dL per year drop in cholesterol levels)
(b) There is a direct association between falling cholesterol levels over the first 14 years and an increase in cardiovascular death rates over the following 18 years (14% increase per 1 mg/dL per year drop in cholesterol levels)
The paper illustrates that if your cholesterol levels fall you have a greatly increased risk of dying - and an even greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, and the more your cholesterol
levels fall the bigger the risk of premature death.
