Serum Cholesterol and Atherosclerosis in Man

Abstract

Two hundred cases were selected from medicolegal autopsies for a study of the relationship of serum cholesterol to the amount and severity of atherosclerosis in the aorta and the coronary and cerebral arteries. A preliminary study of cholesterol before and after death in 20 cases showed a close parallel between the two when the sample of blood was taken within 16 hours of death. The mean serum total cholesterol showed a tendency to rise from 122 mg. per cent ±16 in the first decade to 176 mg. per cent ±28 in the fifth decade. A statistically significant correlation was found between serum total cholesterol levels and age up to the fifth decade. No correlation could be observed between the serum cholesterol level and the amount and severity of atherosclerosis in the arteries. When all the cases were divided into arbitrary groups according to the amount of atherosclerosis, a rise in the levels of mean serum total cholesterol was seen in the first six successive groups of aortic atherosclerosis. But when age was excluded from the correlation between atherosclerosis and serum cholesterol, the interrelationship between the two was found to be statistically insignificant.

Cholesterol Was Healthy in the End

“…Already in 1936, Landé and Sperry falsified the first prediction. In a study of a large number of healthy people who had died violently, they found that on average those with low cholesterol were just as atherosclerotic as those with high cholesterol [56], and their result has been confirmed by others [57][58][59][60][61] been present between blood cholesterol and degree of atherosclerosis in studies of selected patient groups. As these groups mainly included patients with cardiovascular diseases, individuals with FH must have been much more frequent than in unselected cohorts.…”

Relation of Blood Pressure and Serum Total Cholesterol to Severity of Atherosclerotic Lesions in Aorta, Coronary and Cerebral Arteries

“…On the other hand, there was no obvious correlation between the total serum cholesterol and the severity of atherosclerosis of the aorta or cerebral artery in accord with our previous study13) and reports by Paterson and associates6),7) and Mathur and associates. 8) A close correlation of the blood pressure to the severity of atherosclerosis in the aorta, the coronary or cerebral arteries have been pointed out by many investigators, 9)-15),18)-26),23)-26) although there are some contradictory reports.22),27) However, the studies on the blood pressure are frequently not without objections, especially when only one reading of the blood pressure is available. In order to exclude the influence of transient fluctuations of the blood pressure, only the cases with long follow-up of the blood pressure were included in the present study, and the average of the annual blood pressure was calculated.…”

Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen und Mikronährstoffe

“…Ursächliche Zusammenhänge zwischen Cholesterinspiegel und Herzinfarkt können durch die vorliegenden Studien bisher nicht eindeutig belegt werden. In verschiedenen Untersuchungen post mortem konnten keine Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Grad der Arteriosklerose und den Cholesterinspiegeln gezeigt werden [7,8,9].…”