High levels of “bad” cholesterol should worry us, because the deposition of fatty substances in the wall of blood vessels can lead to stroke or heart attack. However, patients often choose not to follow the treatment prescribed by the doctor.
High “bad” cholesterol means high cardiovascular risk PHOTO: archive
Elevated levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL – cholesterol) lead over time to atherosclerosis, which can cause blood vessels to thicken and block. That means less blood reaching the heart or brain and an increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Although doctors draw attention to these risks, not infrequently patients refuse treatment, even more so if the values that raise the first alarm signals are not very high.
Diabetologist Anca Roman explains, however, that cholesterol plaques appear even at values of LDL – cholesterol considered not very high, and hence the risks exposed above.
“It is a study that also appears in the Cardiology guide and which shows that even in healthy people over 40 years old, with an LDL of 120 or 130, cholesterol plaques appear in at least two vascular territories, in a proportion of 45%”, explained the doctor.
The doctor details what happens if we do not follow the prescribed treatment to control elevated LDL-cholesterol values. “These cholesterol plaques happen to form and become unstable and cause a stroke or acute coronary syndrome (myocardial infarction). And most myocardial infarctions are caused by the sudden rupture of a cholesterol plaque located in another vascular territory. Statins (ed. – drugs prescribed to normalize LDL-cholesterol values), in addition to reducing the cholesterol plaque, stabilize it, this is their role in fact, so that it does not leave there, does not detach and have a cardiovascular event,” reinforces the doctor.
The risks that patients fear
The doctor specializing in diabetes and nutritional diseases says that often patients who do not follow treatment to lower elevated LDL-cholesterol values choose to do so for fear of adverse effects.
“I think they are reading a lot of things on the Internet about side effects and thinking that these drugs have the potential to increase liver enzymes. But this thing happens in few patients, and if it happens, treatment is given, this is also treated”says the doctor. Another risk they fear, and this mentioned as a possible adverse effect, is that of myopathy. According to studies, patients who have had myopathy represent a very small percentage, says doctor Anca Roman. Subjective symptoms are also mentioned, which patients also attribute to the treatment, instead, most likely, they somatize from fear, adds the doctor.
The benefit of the treatment is much greater than the potential risk of side effects, the doctor emphasizes. This treatment can be prescribed by the family doctor, but also by the cardiologist, neurologist, diabetologist, internist, gastroenterologist, etc.
Although it is important to find out the cause of the elevated LDL-cholesterol values, the treatment will be the same. Moreover, Dr. Roman points out, in the case of a myocardial infarction, the statin that many patients fear will be prescribed in the highest dose, for one year.
The causes that determine elevated LDL-cholesterol values can be diverse, a diet rich in fat (fatty meat, high-fat dairy products, etc.) and sugar being often mentioned, but also an unhealthy lifestyle (sedentary, obesity, stress, consumption of alcohol, smoking, etc.) or genetic causes.
