A high level
of cholesterol in the blood increases the risk of a cardiovascular
complication, either an infarction or a cerebral vascular accident.
Cholesterol
breaks up into " good " and " bad " cholesterol:
Total
cholesterol = " good " cholesterol + " bad " cholesterol.
Good cholesterol is
called HDL-cholesterol (HDL for High-Density-Lipoprotein), because
it is the heaviest cholesterol and thus the least likely to penetrate
into the wall of the artery.
Bad cholesterol is called LDL-cholesterol (LDL for Low-Density-Lipoprotein),
because it is composed of small and light particles and thus it can easily
penetrate into the wall of the artery.
At present physicians
take the LDL-cholesterol rate as the basis to evaluate the cardiovascular
risk of their patient and to adapt their medication.
The values
of normality of the cholesterol rate are provided in the table
below. It must be remembered that the measurement of cholesterol
is carried out on an empty stomach, in the morning.
Category
of patients |
Value
of introduction of the dietetic processing |
Target
value |
Value
of introduction of the drug therapy value |
Target
value |
| Men < 45
years or not post-ménopausal women, without factor
of risk |
> 2.2
g/l |
< 1.6
g/l |
Not
in first intention |
|
| Men < 45
years or no menopausal women not, without factor of risk
after failure of dietetics (6 months) |
|
|
> 2.2
g/l |
< 1.6
g/l |
| Subjects
having at least a factor of risk |
> 1.6
g/l |
< 1.6
g/l |
> 1.9
g/l |
< 1.6
g/l |
| Subjects
having at least two other factor of risk |
> 1.3
g/l |
< 1.3
g/l |
> 1.6
g/l |
< 1.3
g/l |
| Subjects
having a coronary disease |
> 1.3
g/l |
|
> 1.3
g/l
In spite of the dietetics followed during 3 months. |
|
Thresholds
of intervention and value targets LDL-cholesterol to be reached.
These values
of normality are variable according to the physiological and pathological
conditions and also according to the existence of other factors
of cardiovascular risk.
| File
last modified on : 28 sep 2003 |
|
