HDL-CHOLESTEROL

HDL Cholesterol

HDL Cholesterol

Introduction

Cholesterol is the main sterol in the human body and precursor of all other steroids body and is part of the cell membranes, lipoproteins, bile acids and steroid hormones. Cholesterol is an important constituent of gallstones, but its main pathological feature, is for the production of atherosclerosis of vital arteries, causing heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease (Teramoto, 2009, 138-145).

The HDL is known as “good cholesterol" because it is cholesterol that is en route to be removed from our system. Countless scientific studies have shown that low HDL is associated with an increased risk of suffering a heart attack in the future. In men, the level of good cholesterol in the blood must be greater than 40 mg / dl and women must be greater than 50 mg/ dl. Hence, the lower the level of HDL in the blood the greater would be the cardiovascular risk of the individual.

Discussion

Clinical trials have clearly shown that low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol lowering reduces coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality in patients with established coronary heart disease and LDL-cholesterol above 3.4 mmol. However, about 40% of coronary heart disease patients do not have elevated levels of LDL-cholesterol and many of them have low levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol as their primary lipid abnormality. Overall, about 25% of patients with coronary heart disease have low HDL-cholesterol in the absence of elevated LDL-cholesterol. Low HDL-cholesterol, even in the absence of elevated total LDL-cholesterol, has been shown to be an important risk factor for the development of new or recurrent coronary heart disease events in observational epidemiological studies (Wagner, 2003, 177-183).

However, there have been no clinical trial data to guide therapeutic decisions in these patients. Therefore, we initiated the VA (Veterans Affairs) HDL Intervention Trial (V A-HIT) in order to determine whether coronary heart disease patients whose primary lipid abnormality is a low level of HDL-cholesterol benefit from lipid therapy designed primarily to raise their HDL-cholesterol.

It is well established that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is an inverse risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), even in patients with other lipid abnormalities. As such HDL screening is routinely used as a method for stratifying cardiovascular (CV) risk in adults. Although this relationship is well described, the more specific issue of how changes in HDL can modify the CV risk of an individual patient remains less clear. Multiple studies have looked at HDL altering therapy and CV outcomes. It has been demonstrated in dyslipidemic men that targeted HDL therapy with gemfibrozil reduces CV events. It has also been shown that treatment with bezafibrate may provide long-term cardio protective effects and that use of fenofibrate may reduce nonfatal myocardial infarction in diabetic individuals (Van der, 2007, 1771).

Facts about HDL Cholesterol

The HDL is a protein that has been studied extensively and is still being studied. Today we know that there are factors that increase the HDL in the blood and others that decrease it.

HDL increases due to exercise and moderate consumption of ...