Abstract
To the Editor: The Helsinki Heart Study (Nov. 12 issue)1 is the third major trial in which cholesterol levels have been lowered by the use of drugs. The other two were the World Health Organization clofibrate study and the Lipid Research Clinics trial of cholestyramine.2 , 3 In all these studies the incidence of ischemic heart disease was reduced, as was mortality from the disorder, but total mortality in the intervention group was as high as in the control group.An unexplained but now consistent finding is a larger number of deaths from "other causes" in the intervention studies. In particular, there . . .