LDL-C does Not Cause Cardiovascular Disease: A Comprehensive Review of the Current Literature

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Keywords

Atherosclerosis, cardiovascular, cholesterol lowering, coronary heart disease, exposure–response, mortality, statin

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391

Abstract

Introduction: For half a century, a high level of total cholesterol (TC) or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has been considered to be the major cause of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and statin treatment has been widely promoted for cardiovascular prevention. However, there is an increasing understanding that the mechanisms are more complicated and that statin treatment, in particular when used as primary prevention, is of doubtful benefit.

Areas covered: The authors of three large reviews recently published by statin advocates have attempted to validate the current dogma. This article delineates the serious errors in these three reviews as well as other obvious falsifications of the cholesterol hypothesis.

Expert commentary: Our search for falsifications of the cholesterol hypothesis confirms that it is unable to satisfy any of the Bradford Hill criteria for causality and that the conclusions of the authors of the three reviews are based on misleading statistics, exclusion of unsuccessful trials and by ignoring numerous contradictory observations.

Comments

Complete list of authors: Malcolm Kendrick, Peter H. Langsjoen, Luca Mascitelli, Kilmer S. McCully, Harumi Okuyama, Paul J. Rosch, Tore Schersten, Sherif Sultan, Ralf Sundberg

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, v. 11, issue 10, p. 959-970

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