Low cholesterol levels predict death in patients with bacteria in the blood

This study was published in the Archives of Family Medicine 1995 Sep;4(9):785-9

Study title and authors:
Risk factors for the development of bacteremia in nursing home patients.

Richardson JP, Hricz L.
Department of Family Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7647945

The study examined the association between cholesterol levels and death rates in people with bacteremia (bacteremia is the presence of bacteria in the blood). The study included 26 patients who were admitted into a nursing home.

The study found that the only admission characteristic of patients that was associated with death caused by bacteremia was low cholesterol of 3.79 mmol/L (147 mg/dL) in patients who died, whereas patients who survived had higher cholesterol of 5.05 mmol/L (195 mg/dL).