Cholesterol, Coronaries, Clofibrate and Death

Abstract

The results of the largest and longest clinical trial of the effects on the incidence of coronary heart disease of reducing elevated plasma cholesterol concentrations in apparently normal men are now available.¹ These results will have far reaching consequences, whether they are regarded as favorable or unfavorable to the lipid hypothesis,² and a brief description of the trial is needed for their understanding.The trial was started in 1965, and clofibrate was chosen as the means of testing in healthy volunteers whether reduction of plasma cholesterol would influence the incidence of coronary heart disease. It was conducted in three European . . .