The American journal of medicine
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Review Meta Analysis
Cholesterol Lowering and Stroke: No Longer Room for Pleiotropic Effects of Statins - Confirmation from PCSK9 Inhibitor Studies.
The relationship between cholesterol levels and stroke has been much less clear than the relationship between cholesterol levels and coronary heart disease. This is likely mostly due to the inadequate power of older studies and the low intensity of cholesterol-lowering interventions available at the time. Because a reduction in stroke has been, conversely, clearly observed in trials with statins, for long "pleiotropic" effects of such drugs, unrelated to cholesterol lowering, have been invoked. In a previous analysis of all randomized trials of cholesterol-lowering treatments reporting on stroke we had, however, reached the conclusion that any cholesterol lowering is related to a significant reduction of stroke, in a relationship that appeared to exist for both statin and nonstatin cholesterol-lowering interventions. Outcome results of the FOURIER trial with evolocumab, SPIRE-1 and -2 with bococizumab, and ODYSSEY OUTCOMES trial with alirocumab now offer the opportunity of clearly confirming or confuting this concept. ⋯ These findings offer definitive proof that the pure total (and low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol lowering, with any available lipid-lowering intervention, reduces stroke risk proportional to the extent of cholesterol reduction, without the need of invoking "pleiotropic" effects of any such treatment.
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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the consistency of 3 commonly used direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits. Genetic testing kits are widely marketed by several companies but the consistency of their results is unclear. Because identical twins share the same DNA, their genetic testing results should provide insight into test consistency. ⋯ The consistency of consumer genetic testing is high for ancestry results within companies but lower and more variable for ancestry results across companies and for specific traits. These results raise questions about the usefulness of such testing.