The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Thursday 2 August 2012

High levels of HDL cholesterol are associated with better survival in people aged over 80

This study was published in Gerontology 2008;54(2):71-8

Study title and authors
Serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and mortality in frail, community-living elderly.
Landi F, Russo A, Pahor M, Capoluongo E, Liperoti R, Cesari M, Bernabei R, Onder G.
Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. francesco_landi@rm.unicatt.it

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18025809

The object of the study was to evaluate the impact of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol on death rates in older people. The two year study analyzed HDL cholesterol data from 359 subjects aged 80 years and older.

The study found:
(a) The HDL cholesterol levels of men that died was 36.7 mg/dL (.9 mmol/l), whereas the HDL cholesterol levels in the men who survived was 43.3 mg/dL (1.1 mmol/l).
(b) The HDL cholesterol levels of women that died was 42.2 mg/dL (1.1 mmol/l), whereas the HDL cholesterol levels in the women who survived was 49.3 mg/dL (1.3 mmol/l).

The results of this study show that high levels of HDL cholesterol are associated with better survival in people aged over 80.

An analysis of 27 trials found the best way to raise HDL cholesterol is to eat saturated fat. See here