Hypocholesterolemia: a blessing or a problem?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2015/hc.v15i1.891Abstract
We are all accustomed to face serum cholesterol as a potential threat for our health and so wish and try to have its levels as low as possible. So, in clinical practice we are rather indifferent or even satisfied when we find very low serum cholesterol levels -what we can call “hypocholesterolemia- in a certain individual. Is this practice right or it should be reevaluated? Since cholesterol is an important component of all cell membranes and its concentrations affect membrane permeability and fluidity it is highly probable that very low levels of it may disturb some cell functions and participate in the pathogenesis of diseases.
Let’s start with a definition of the term, although this is not generally accepted. It can be described as a serum total cholesterol level under the fifth percentile of a general population adjusted for sex and age.1 In a less complicated manner it can be defined as less than 115 mg/dl. In a study of 7,000 healthy blood donors, a percentage of 7,8% were found to meet the criteria for hypocholesterolemia.
Hypocholesterolemia may be congenital or acquired. Congenital conditions are either combined with low LDL- (low density lipoprotein) or low HDL- (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).