You’re right. I’m only basing this off of the cardiac risk factor website for patients that some cardiac society has online. I went through it when I got my labs last year and played with the variables. HDL has way more effect than calculated ldl

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Ok, so as someone who practices medicine, take my word for it: Worry more about your LDL, better yet, your apoB level, than your HDL. HDL numbers are meaningless as the actual functionality of the HDL particle is not measurable.

Interesting read on whether LDL causes heart disease:

Ravnskov U, de Lorgeril M, Diamond DM, Hama R, Hamazaki T, Hammarskjöld B, Hynes N, Kendrick M, Langsjoen PH, Mascitelli L, McCully KS, Okuyama H, Rosch PJ, Schersten T, Sultan S, Sundberg R. LDL-C does not cause cardiovascular disease: a comprehensive review of the current literature. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2018 Oct;11(10):959-970. doi: 10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391. Epub 2018 Oct 11. PMID: 30198808.

You can find studies that support whatever theory you want to believe. The vast majority of scientific evidence says LDL is one of the key components to atherosclerosis.

I’m not inclined to take someone’s word for it. But I’m also not committed to the various models I’ve looked at over the years that seem to weigh Hdl as far more meaningful a factor than LDL…either way, the devil is in the details and I doubt either of us is able to state a claim precisely with error bars…

The consensus is that elevated LDL equates to elevated risk of atherosclerosis. It's really not up for much debate amongst most physicians.