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

Saturday 6 October 2012

Low cholesterol levels are associated with lower survival rates in stroke patients

This study was published in the European Journal of Neurology 2012 Apr;19(4):648-54
 
Study title and authors
Serum cholesterol levels and survival after rtPA treatment in acute stroke.
Roquer J, Cuadrado-Godia E, Rodríguez-Campello A, Jiménez-Conde J, Martínez-Rodríguez JE, Giralt E, Ois A.
Servei de Neurologia, Hospital del Mar, Parc de Salut Mar-IMIM, Barcelona, Spain. jroquer@hospitaldelmar.cat
 
This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22136724

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of cholesterol levels on 3-month death rates in patients with ischaemic stroke treated with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) and admitted to a monitored acute stroke unit. The study included 220 patients, average age of 73 years.

(a) Those with the lowest cholesterol, (less than 155 mg/dL or 4.0 mmol/L) had death rates of 25.7%.
(b) Those with cholesterol levels in the middle range, (155-192 mg/dL or 4.0-5.0 mmol/L) had death rates of 13.7%.
(c) Those with the highest cholesterol, (over 192 mg/dL or 5.0 mmol/L) had death rates of 5.5%.

The results of the study show that low cholesterol levels are associated with lower survival rates in stroke patients.