LDL a Poor Marker of Heart Health in Patients with CKD

Among 836,060 adults with CKD who were followed for an average of 4 years, 7762 patients were hospitalized for heart attacks, most of whom had the lowest levels of kidney function at the start of the study. Despite their higher overall risk of having a heart attack, the link between higher LDL cholesterol and heart attack risk was weaker for these patients than for patients with higher kidney function. TheJASN findings suggest that criteria for treatments such as statins should not be based on LDL cholesterol levels in people with CKD, unlike in the general population.