A new study reports analysing data on 6,860-people who participated in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Framingham Heart Study reports, abnormal cholesterol levels lead to a significant increase in the risk of heart failure,

None of the participants aged 44-years average, reported coronary heart disease at the start of the study, but 26-years of follow-up showed 680-people to have developed heart failure.

According to the US study, adding extended-release niacin to a statin in patients with or at risk of coronary heart disease, resulted in significantly fewer major cardiovascular events than adding ezetimibe.

The rate of heart failure incidences was as under:

· 12.8% in participants with low levels of high-density lipoprotein or (HDL) good cholesterol. Low HDL is less than 40-mg. per decilitre (mg/dL) in men and less than 50-mg/dL in women.

· 6.1% among participants with desirable HDL levels i. e. 55-mg/dL in men and 65-mg/dL in women.

· 13.8% in participants with high levels i. e. 190-mg/dL) of non-HDL cholesterol, which includes triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) bad cholesterol.

· 7.9% in those with desirable levels i. e. less than 160-mg/dL) of non-HDL cholesterol.

The factoring in of age, sex, body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes and smoking, showed the risk of heart failure to be 29% higher in high non-HDL cholesterol participants, than in those with lower levels, and 40% lower in those with high HDL-cholesterol than in those with lower levels.

Further, the risk of heart attack was 13% higher in high non-HDL cholesterol participants and 25% lower in the high HDL cholesterol participants.

The study by implicating cholesterol levels (both HDL and non-HDL) in heart failure suggests, cholesterol-altering therapy could have long-term benefits in preventing heart failure, much more than in preventing heart attacks.

The study has been published in the 23rd November online edition of the Circulation journal.