ROME – Combined exposure to low LDL cholesterol and systolic blood pressure is associated with multiplicative and cumulative effects over time, Brian A. Ference, MD, said in a video interview at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology.
Indeed, long-term exposure to a combined 1-mmol/L lower LDL cholesterol and 10-mm Hg lower systolic BP was associated with up to a 90% lower risk of major cardiovascular events in the “naturally randomized” study he presented. The investigators used the 102,000 participants’ genetic LDL and BP scores in a Mendelian design.
If these lower LDL and blood pressure levels are sustained over decades, “those cumulative effects multiply, resulting in potentially dramatic reductions in the lifetime risk of cardiovascular events from even modestly lower levels of LDL and systolic blood pressure,” Dr. Ference of Wayne State University, Detroit, told reporter Bruce Jancin.