THURSDAY, April 2, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), targeting a low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level of <55 mg/dL results in a lower risk for cardiovascular events, according to a study published online March 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, held from March 28 to 30 in New Orleans.
Yong-Joon Lee, M.D., from the Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues randomly assigned 3,048 patients with ASCVD to a target LDL cholesterol level of <55 or <70 mg/dL (intensive and conventional targeting, respectively [1,526 and 1,522 individuals]). Patients were followed for a median of 3.0 years for a primary end point of a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, any revascularization, or hospitalization for unstable angina.
The researchers found that a primary end point occurred in 6.6 and 9.7 percent of patients in the intensive-targeting group and the conventional-targeting group, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.67). The groups had a similar incidence of prespecified safety end points, apart from a lower incidence of creatinine elevation in the intensive-targeting group.
"The consistency across the overall population and key subgroups suggests that the benefit of targeting LDL cholesterol lower than 55 mg/dL is broadly applicable across the spectrum of patients with ASCVD and is not limited to specific patient subsets," lead author Jin Won Kim, M.D., also from the Yonsei University College of Medicine, said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.