Dyslipoproteinemia in the elderly. Should it be treated?

No clear consensus has emerged as to whether or not aggressive screening, surveillance, and management of lipid disorders in the elderly is indicated. Informal polling would suggest a highly conservative approach beyond age 70 but near universal support for such therapy below age 60, with gradations of enthusiasm in between. Studies to identify the cardiovascular risk factors in older persons have been initiated, as has been an intervention trial to lower elevated LDL cholesterol levels in older subjects with an HMG CoA reductase inhibitor. By the year 2000, the present, highly individualized and subjective treatment of lipid disorders in elderly patients may be replaced by more objective, uniform guidelines for such management. In the meantime the question remains, "Should dyslipoproteinemia be treated in the elderly?" And the answer remains, "Perhaps."