Does Cholesterol Kill? Treatment and prevention
The close of the series: treatment and prevention, and Pedro's concern with translating medical concepts into public guidance.
The close of the series, in 1993, deals with what to do. Diet, physical activity, weight control and, when needed, medication: in 1993 statins were still recent in Brazil, and the decision to medicate depended heavily on individual clinical assessment, a point Pedro defended in all his writing.
Prevention appears in two moments: keeping the disease from appearing, and keeping it from returning in those who have already had a cardiac event. It is the same logic he applied in the office, where he followed whole families over decades and could see the effect of a habit changed in time.
The "Does Cholesterol Kill?" series is the oldest preserved in the archive and the one that best shows his teaching intent. Thirteen years later, in 2005, he would return to the subject in "Timely considerations on cholesterol".
This article is part of the historical archive of Pedro Moretti Guedes. It should be read as a document of its time: Medicine, pharmacology and health recommendations have changed since publication.
The original clipping is preserved by the family and will be published here once the scan can be checked against the original.