WASHINGTON — Lowering bad cholesterol levels reduces heart-attack risks, and researchers have long hoped that raising good cholesterol would help too. Surprising results from a large government study announced Thursday suggest that this hope may be misplaced.
The study could change the way doctors treat millions of patients with heart disease.
Common wisdom has been that such patients should take a statin drug such as Lipitor or Zocor to lower bad cholesterol and, in many cases, the vitamin niacin to raise their good cholesterol. But in the trial by the National Institutes of Health, niacin provided no benefit over simple statin therapy.
The results are part of a string of studies that suggest what doctors thought they knew about cholesterol may be wrong.
