Blood cholesterol and vascular mortality by age, sex, and blood pressure: ci meta-analysis of individual data from 61 prospective studies with 55,000 vascular deaths.

This article reports on a meta-analysis to determine the joint relevance to total cholesterol and high blood pressure on the risk of vascular mortality. The authors looked at 61 prospective observational studies in western Europe and North American which involved 900,000 adults without previous disease. The study found that total cholesterol was positively associated with ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality in both middle and old age and at all blood pressure levels. There was no evidence of an association between cholesterol levels and stroke mortality. The study also suggests that statins reduce heart events and strokes in patients of many ages and blood pressures.