Serum triglycerides and clinical benefit in lipid-lowering trials.

Trial evidence shows that effective lowering of serum total cholesterol and particularly of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is important for the prevention of total mortality, coronary artery disease mortality, and major coronary events. The role of serum triglyceride reduction in achieving clinical benefit is unclear and poorly documented. On the other hand, no specific trials have studied the importance of triglyceride lowering among patients with marked hypertriglyceridemia. One of the problems in assessing patients with high serum triglyceride levels may be the heterogeneous background of the molecular mechanisms that result in hypertriglyceridemia.