Normal Cholesterol?
You Still Might Need Statins

Even if you have normal cholesterol levels, you may be at risk for heart problems. Half of all strokes and heart attacks happen in people who have LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol levels that aren’t high enough to warrant treatment.

A simple blood test can tell if you are at risk for heart attack even if your cholesterol levels are healthy. The blood test looks for levels of C-reactive protein, which increase when there is inflammation in the body. Studies have shown that the higher a person’s C-reactive protein level, the greater the risk of having a heart attack.

Taking statins, prescription drugs that decrease levels of artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, can significantly reduce the chance of heart events in people with high C-reactive protein levels, reports the New England Journal of Medicine. The new study followed nearly 18,000 people for two years. Subjects had normal or only slightly elevated LDL cholesterol levels. But they also had elevated levels of C-reactive protein.

Researchers had half the subjects take statins. After two years, those taking statins had about half the number of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, compared to subjects taking a placebo. Statins also significantly decreased the chance of death from any cause during the study. Statins improve cardiovascular function by:

• Helping the liver remove LDL cholesterol in the blood
• Slowing down the body’s production of LDL cholesterol
• Decreasing plaque buildup in the arteries
• Lowering levels of blood fats called triglycerides
• Increasing levels of HDL, or “good,” cholesterol