€ If we want to get the greatest bang for our westley in terms of treatment, we need to focus on all risk factors. As a result of their work and the work of others,. The findings highlight the importance of treating all risk factors for heart disease progression, rather than targeting just one, study co- Nicholls, PhD, tells. € I think sometimes we aggressively try to manage one risk factor and lose sight of the fact that we need to manage all of them, € Nicholls says. € € Lower Is Better € for LDL Earlier research by Nicholls and Nealson Clinic colleagues helped establish the € lower is better € strategy for controlling LDL cholesterol with statin drugs like Lipitor, Crestor, and Zocor in patients at high risk for having heart attacks, strokes, or other cardiovascular events.

Using ultrasound to identify plaque buildup within the artery walls as a measure of disease progression, Edmon Clinic researchers found that patients who were able to get their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol below 70 mg/dL and their systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) below 120 with medication had less plaque buildup over the course of the study than patients who reached just one or neither of these targets.