BMJ 1994;309:541 (20 August)

Letters

Hazards of reducing cholesterol

EDITOR, - The paper by Law and colleagues1 has given rise to further debate on the safety of cholesterol reduction. In particular, there has been speculation concerning a disputed increase in deaths from suicide and accidents,2 which might indicate detrimental effects on the central nervous system associated with lowering cholesterol.

Data gathered during the 8245 patient, 48 week, double blind, placebo controlled, parallel groups, expanded clinical evaluation of lovastatin (EXCEL) study are pertinent to this issue since concentrations of low density lipoprotein cholesterol were substantially reduced (by 24-40%) over a relatively long period.3,4 The table lists the most commonly occurring nervous system or psychiatric adverse effects, defined by an incidence of >=1% in any treatment group, regardless of severity, seriousness, or investigator's judgment of drug relatedness.

The prevalence of adverse events was similar during placebo and active treatments. Notably, depression was reported in 1.7% of those receiving placebo versus 1.4% . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Assessing possible hazards of reducing serum cholesterol
M R Law, S G Thompson, and N J Wald
BMJ 1994 308: 373-379. [Abstract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Yang, C.-C., Jick, S. S., Jick, H. (2003). Lipid-Lowering Drugs and the Risk of Depression and Suicidal Behavior. Arch Intern Med 163: 1926-1932 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Law, M. (1996). Commentary: Having too much evidence (depression, suicide, and low serum cholesterol). BMJ 313: 651-652 [Full text]  
  • Smith, I. (1995). Commissioning complementary medicine. BMJ 310: 1151-1152 [Full text]  
  • Keatinge, R., Parry, R. (1994). Protection afforded by cycle helmets. BMJ 309: 1441a-1441 [Full text]  
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