NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with very low levels of "bad" LDL
cholesterol who suffer a heart attack or other severe acute cardiac event
may benefit from initiating a statin right after the event, a study shows.

Researchers took a look back at 155 patients hospitalized for an acute
cardiac event who had very low LDL cholesterol levels and found that those
individuals who were discharged from the hospital on statin therapy were
much less likely to die or experience a second heart attack or stroke at
six months, compared to those patients who were not discharged on statin
therapy.

In the American Journal of Cardiology, Dr. Thomas T. Tsai from the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and colleagues say their findings are
consistent with findings of two other studies, which showed a decrease in
cardiac events in subjects with severe acute heart disease (a.k.a., acute
coronary syndrome or ACS) who were treated with high-dose statins,
regardless of their LDL cholesterol level.

Moreover, they say their findings potentially extend the results of these
studies to patients who have ACS and very low LDL cholesterol levels. In
the current study, mean LDL levels on admission to the hospital were 63
milligrams per deciliter -- well below the current treatment goal of less
than 70 milligrams per deciliter in high-risk patients.

The findings suggest that patients who present with ACS and very low LDL
cholesterol "may still derive benefit from statin therapy," the researchers
conclude.

"It also may mean that the 'goal LDL' concept is outdated as a tool for
defining candidacy for statin therapy in this situation," they assert.

The researchers emphasize that these hypothesis-generating findings "need
to be confirmed in larger registries and with clinical trials."

SOURCE: American Journal of Cardiology, December 2005.