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HDL cholesterol is not HDL—don't judge the book by its cover

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The concept that raising HDL-cholesterol level will uniformly translate into cardiovascular risk reduction has been challenged by genetic epidemiology studies and large-scale, randomized clinical trials. Studies suggest that we should go beyond HDL cholesterol, and consider emerging biomarkers of HDL concentration, composition, and functionality as surrogates for cardiovascular risk reduction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec, Pavilion Marguerite-D'Youville, 4th Floor, 2725 chemin Sainte-Foy, Québec, G1V 4G5, QC, Canada

    Benoit J. Arsenault & Jean-Pierre Després

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  1. Benoit J. Arsenault
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  2. Jean-Pierre Després
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Correspondence to Jean-Pierre Després.

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Competing interests

J.-P. Després has received honoraria as a speaker or consulting fees from Abbott, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer Canada, Sanofi, Theratechnologies, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals. B. J. Arsenault declares no competing interests.

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Arsenault, B., Després, JP. HDL cholesterol is not HDL—don't judge the book by its cover. Nat Rev Cardiol 9, 557–558 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2012.127

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