Low cholesterol levels are associated with higher death rates in stroke, heart failure, and cancer

This study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology 2011;21(1):67-74

Study title and authors:

Low cholesterol is associated with mortality from stroke, heart disease, and cancer: the Jichi Medical School Cohort Study.

Nago N, Ishikawa S, Goto T, Kayaba K.
Tokyo-kita Social Health Insurance Hospital, Clinical Education Center, Kita-ku, Tokyo, Japan. nago@jadecom.or.jp

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21160131

This study of 12,334 healthy adults aged 40 to 69 years investigated the relationship between low cholesterol and mortality and examined whether that relationship differs with respect to cause of death.

The study found:
(a) Those with the lowest cholesterol (under 4.14mmol/L - 160mg/dL) had around a 50% higher death rate than those with cholesterol up to 5.17mmol/L - 200mg/dL. High cholesterol (above 6.21mmol/L - 240mg/dL) was not a risk factor.
(b) The risk of death in the lowest cholesterol group for hemorrhagic stroke, heart failure (excluding myocardial infarction), and cancer mortality was significantly higher than those of the moderate cholesterol group, for each cause of death.

To conclude: Low cholesterol was related to high mortality. High cholesterol was not a risk factor for mortality.