from Annals of Internal Medicine & University of California San Francisco
It is rare for young adults to have a
heart attack or stroke, but a new
study provides evidence that
elevated cholesterol levels in young
adults is associated with lasting and
accumulating damage to coronary
arteries. The twenty-year study at
the University of California San
Francisco refutes the common
assumption that elevated cholesterol
in young adults is nothing to worry
about. Researchers found that
young men and women with highest
levels of the bad kind of cholesterol
and lowest levels of the good kind of
cholesterol were more likely to
develop coronary calcium in their
arteries. But even modest increases
in bad cholesterol had significantly
higher chances of calcium deposits in
their arteries, which can lead to
heart attacks and strokes later in life.
The study is published in Annals of
Internal Medicine.