Treating Hypercholesterolemia

AN unprecedented wave of enthusiasm for treating patients who have hypercholesterolemia has followed the publication of the findings of the Lipid Research Clinics trial and the Helsinki Heart Study.1 , 2 These studies have demonstrated that therapy with lipidlowering drugs plus attention to diet may reduce the incidence of some cardiovascular end points when asymptomatic middle-aged men with markedly elevated serum cholesterol levels are treated for five years or more. Because these results are congruent with the epidemiologic and experimental evidence that the serum cholesterol level is a coronary risk factor, many authorities consider the benefits of drug therapy to be unequivocal. . . .