Cholesterol levels fluctuate based on the time of year, with more unfavourable lipid profiles seen in the colder months, a trend that may be driven by related behaviour changes, reports [s]Health AM[/s]. While previous studies have shown that heart attacks and heart-related deaths increase during the winter months, researchers at [b]Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Centre for the Prevention of Heart Disease[/b] researched whether cholesterol parameters follow a similar pattern among a sample of 2.8m adults – the largest study yet to look at seasonal lipid trends in US adults. ‘We found that people tend to have worse cholesterol numbers on average during the colder months than in the warmer months – not by a very large amount, but the variation is significant,’ said [b]Dr Parag Joshi[/b] of [b]Johns Hopkins Hospital[/b]. Researchers caution these findings do not mean patients should have their cholesterol checked more frequently or at certain times of the year; the data instead validates a clear seasonal pattern and underscores the need to pay attention to behaviours that are critical to minimising cardiovascular risk.
[link url=http://www.health.am/cholesterol/more/cholesterol-levels-vary-by-season]Full Health AM report[/link]
[link url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24122913]NCBI abstract[/link]