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Heart and Circulatory
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Heart and Circulatory Conditions
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Harvard Medical School
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Q: I am a 66-year-old woman. I walk three miles five or six times a week. And I swim for half an hour every day. My HDL cholesterol level is usually over 100, but it was up to 127 in my most recent cholesterol test. My total cholesterol was 215 and my LDL was 68. Should I be celebrating or worried about an unusually high HDL?
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The Trusted Source
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Howard LeWine, M.D.

Howard LeWine, M.D., is chief editor of Internet Publishing, Harvard Health Publications. He is a clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. LeWine has been a primary care internist and teacher of internal medicine since 1978.

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March 22, 2013
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A:

I think you should be celebrating. As you know, HDL is the “good” cholesterol. It carts excess cholesterol away from blood vessels and disposes of it in the liver.

I consider it excellent when my patients have a “good” cholesterol of 60. Your level of 127 isn’t just high; it is very high.

Many studies show that people with higher HDL levels have a much lower risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. And they tend to healthier overall. But the existing research has included very few people in your HDL range.

Most people with an HDL level of 70 are healthier than those with an HDL of 40. But not enough people with very high levels have been studied to say the extra HDL gives them any additional health advantage.

To complicate things a little, we are learning that there are different forms of HDL. And they may differ in their effects on health.

But the bottom line is that I think your recent HDL level of 127 is very good news.

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