My blood lipids are normal, why does the doctor still ask me to take statins to lower my blood lipids?

Nowadays, more and more patients are suffering from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Many people are taking statins, including some patients whose blood lipids are not higher than normal. So many people have this question: Why do doctors ask me to continue taking statins when my blood lipid test indicators are normal? Is the doctor wrong? Of course not! Let's find out today.

First, let’s get to know the members of the lipid family and see their true faces!

We check blood lipids by taking blood samples to test biochemical indicators. Blood lipid examination indicators usually include total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), etc. These blood lipid indicators have different "characters", some are good people, and some are bad people. Among them, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is a bad guy (a bad cholesterol). The higher it is, the greater the damage to our blood vessels. The higher its content, the easier it is to deposit in our blood vessels to form plaques, causing atherosclerosis, and thus causing coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction and other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The higher the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol is, the better. It can transfer harmful substances such as cholesterol in the blood from blood vessels to the liver, thereby lowering cholesterol in the blood and protecting the cardiovascular system. The higher it is, the healthier the body.

Secondly, statins have multiple benefits and are a great way to lower cholesterol!

Statins have many pharmacological effects. They can block the liver from synthesizing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and have the effect of lowering blood lipids. In addition to lowering blood lipids, statins can also improve the metabolism of the arterial endothelium, fight against cholesterol oxidation, stress and inflammatory response, increase the density of the lipid core in the plaque, reduce its volume, reverse the plaque, and make the plaque less likely to rupture.

Finally, statins are essential for patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Some patients simply have elevated blood lipids, and do not have other atherosclerotic risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and arterial plaques. Statins are taken to simply lower blood lipids. After blood lipids are reduced to the normal range, you can consider reducing the dosage and stopping the medication. After that, you can keep blood lipids at a normal level through diet control and increased exercise. However, if blood lipids rise again after stopping the medication, you need to resume taking the medication. But if you already have atherosclerotic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, including coronary heart disease, stroke, carotid artery stenosis, etc., taking statins is to stabilize and reverse plaques and prevent the recurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular accidents. For this group of people, it is usually necessary to control low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to a relatively low level, not just to the normal range. For example, for patients with diabetes or hypertension, the control standard for LDL-C is less than 2.6mmol/L; for people with both diabetes and hypertension, the control standard for LDL-C is less than 1.8mmol/L. Therefore, even after blood lipids in this group of people are reduced to the normal range, statins still need to be taken.

After understanding the lipid family and the pharmacological effects of statins, do you understand why doctors ask you to take statins even if your blood lipids are normal?