LDL Too Low?

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Anchor lead: Is there a level of LDL that’s too low if you’ve had a stroke? Elizabeth Tracey reports

If you’ve had a stroke or a transient ischemic attack, or TIA, trying to get your LDL cholesterol really low helps reduce your risk of another event, according to a recent study. Erin Michos, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, says concerns about increased risk of bleeding in the brain, called hemorrhagic stroke, were not borne out in this study.

Michos: LDL wins again. There was a 22% reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events with trying to target an LDL less than 70. And there was no increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke. So I think this is reassuring safety data that these individuals who have ischemic stroke, they’re at high risk for recurrent events. To not treat these individuals with ischemic stroke for their LDL would place them really vulnerable for not only recurrent stroke events but for heart attack events and so we need to treat them more aggressively.  :30

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.