High LDL cholesterol levels associated with a 15% reduction in hospital death rates in heart attack patients

This study was published in the American Journal of Cardiology 2015 Mar 1;115(5):557-62

Study title and authors:
Relationship between serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and in-hospital mortality following acute myocardial infarction (the lipid paradox).

Reddy VS, Bui QT, Jacobs JR, Begelman SM, Miller DP, French WJ; Investigators of National Registry of Myocardial Infarction (NRMI) 4b–5.
F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: reddy.vanessa@gene.com

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25727079

This study investigated the association between cholesterol levels and in-hospital death rates in patients hospitalized for a heart attack. The study included 115,492 patients.

The study found:
(i) Patients with the highest LDL cholesterol levels had a 15% reduced risk of dying in hospital compared to patients with the lowest LDL cholesterol levels.
(ii) Patients with the lowest HDL cholesterol levels had a 20% increased risk of dying in hospital compared to patients with the highest HDL cholesterol levels.

Reddy concluded: "Lower LDL cholesterol levels associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality".