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Does low cholesterol impact your risk of disease or dying from infection?

Does low cholesterol impact your risk of disease or dying from infection?

Considering statins are one of the most common medicines prescribed in the U.S., with more than 35 million people taking them, we feel it’s important that we present information on the relationship between infection and low cholesterol. The journal article from1998 titled, “Association Between Serum Total Cholesterol and HIV Infection in a High-Risk Cohort of Young Men,” discusses the dangers of statin prescriptions. The authors state, “Low serum total cholesterol (TC) is associated with a variety of nonatherosclerotic (heart) diseases, but the association of TC with infectious disease has been little studied. In this study, we examined the relationship between serum TC and HIV infection in members of a large health maintenance organization in Northern California.” They found that the men in the study, under the age of 50, had a significantly higher rate of infection if their total cholesterol was <160. They also found a similar excess risk of AIDS and AIDS-related death. These findings suggest that low serum total cholesterol levels should be considered a marker of increased risk of HIV infection in men already at heightened risk of HIV infection. This data may have relevance to other infections, not just HIV.

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