HDL Raising Drugs Do Not Improve Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality

This article presents the studies that show that HDL-increasing drugs do not improve cardiovascular disease survival. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is commonly known as “good cholesterol.” HDL removes cholesterol from atherosclerotic plaques from the arteries (cholesterol efflux) and returns them to the liver for elimination (reverse cholesterol transport). The effects of high levels of HDL result…

How Effective are Drugs that Increase HDL?

HDL is well known as good cholesterol, and that LDL is the bad cholesterol. Therefore, to lessen the chance of a heart attack, the HDL should increase, and the LDL should decrease. The easy way to increase the HDL is to take medicines like nicotinic acid (a.k.a. niacin) and fibrates. Both medications can increase the…