low hdl

[billiam999]

Just about every male on my fathers side of the family has had heart attacks in their early 50'sand all have had low HDL levels (my father's was 12 at the time of his heart attack).  I am currently 30, in great shape, excersise, dont smoke, basically I try to do everything I can to avoid heart attacks.  I get yearly lipid panels.  Five years ago, my hdl was 43 and has progressively gone down.  This year it was 39.  However, my total cholesterol was 114, ldl was 65 and triglycerides were 51.  My doctor does not seem to worry about my hdl because all the other numbers are low.  Is there any research that shows that it is ok for hdl to be low because other levels are low?  Everything I read says low hdl is bad no matter what.  Help?
Thanks
Bill

[Cleveland Clinic]

Of the lipids that we typically check for LDL is the strongest prector of risk. HDL when high takes away one of the conventional risk factots for CAD but we don't know what it means when it's low.  There is some evidnece to suggest that low HDL in isolation does increase the risk.  The final word on this topic isn't out yet.  In your situation, the family history is the strogest predictor of risk.  You should therefore try to limit any known risk factor to the minimum.  I would therefore treat your low HDL, at least with diet and exercise at first and maybe even with fish oil or even niacin.  These are relatively simple medicaitons.  You should also probably see a specialist who could look into the newer tests such as CRP or LPa which may be affected by genetics (family Hx).