Lipid Research Clinics Program

To the Editor.— In reading the LRC-CPPT findings, 1 I wonder why the cholestyramine group had a higher incidence of accidental and homicidal deaths. Is this merely chance or is it possibly causal? The authors note that half of the victims had high blood alcohol levels. Does cholestyramine increase the risk of excessive alcohol consumption in a subgroup of patients? Consider the increased hospitalization rates for gastritis and ulcer in cholestyramine patients. Consider their increases in liver function enzyme levels. Consider that in Table 6 noting selected variables, all values quoted are mean values except those for alcohol consumption, which are quoted as median values. Does this obscure a skewed distribution (with a higher mean) due to a subgroup of patients using cholestyramine with high alcohol consumption? It may be that the higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the cholestyramine group are related to an increased alcohol consumption. It would