Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was inversely associated with 3-year all-cause mortality among Chinese oldest old: Data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey

Authors

Yue-Bin Lv
Zhao-Xue Yin
Choy-Lye Chei
Han-Zhu Qian
Virginia Byers Kraus
Juan Zhang
Melanie Sereny Brasher, University of Rhode IslandFollow
Xiao-Ming Shi
David Bruce Matchar
Yi Zeng

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2015

Abstract

Objective: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a risk factor for survival in middle-aged individuals, but conflicting evidence exists on the relationship between LDL-C and all-cause mortality among the elderly. The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between LDL-C and all-cause mortality among Chinese oldest old (aged 80 and older) in a prospective cohort study.

Methods: LDL-C concentration was measured at baseline and all-cause mortality was calculated over a 3-year period. Multiple statistical models were used to adjust for demographic and biological covariates.

Results: During three years of follow-up, 447 of 935 participants died, and the overall all-cause mortality was 49.8%. Each 1 mmol/L increase of LDL-C concentration corresponded to a 19% decrease in 3-year all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.71–0.92). The crude HR for abnormally higher LDL-C concentration (≥3.37 mmol/L) was 0.65 (0.41–1.03); and the adjusted HR was statistically significant around 0.60 (0.37–0.95) when adjusted for different sets of confounding factors. Results of sensitivity analysis also showed a significant association between higher LDL-C and lower mortality risk.

Conclusions: Among the Chinese oldest old, higher LDL-C level was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality. Our findings suggested the necessity of re-evaluating the optimal level of LDL-C among the oldest old.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Lv, Y.-B., Yin, Z.-X., Chei, C.-L., Qian, H.-Z., Byers Kraus, V., Zhang, J., Brasher, M. S.,...Zeng, Y. (2015). Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was inversely associated with 3-year all-cause mortality among Chinese oldest old: Data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. Atherosclerosis, 239(1), 137-142. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2015.01.002

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2015.01.002

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Comment

Melanie Sereny Brasher has a dual appointment with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Department of Human Development and Family Studies.