Most physicians follow the school of thought that the lower a patient's cholesterol is, the better.

But a recent University of Michigan study suggests doctors also need to adjust their focus to consider a patient's risk factors for heart attack - including age, family history and smoking - and tailor the treatment accordingly.

According to the study, the more tailored treatment was more effective and required fewer high-dose statins than strategies that focused on getting cholesterol down to a certain target level.

The findings were published online Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“We’ve been worrying too much about people’s cholesterol level and not enough about their overall risk of heart disease,” Rodney A. Hayward, director of the Veterans Affairs Center for Health Services Research and Development, said in a release.

“The bottom line message - knowing your overall heart attack risk is more important than knowing your cholesterol level. If your overall risk is elevated, you should probably be on a statin regardless of what your cholesterol is and if your risk is very high, should probably be on a high dose of statin,” said Hayward, who is also a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. "If your cholesterol is your only risk factor and you’re younger, you should work on diet and exercise.”

University of Michigan hosting live chat on Twitter about heart defect surgeries

Folks in the Ann Arbor area will be able to ask top clinicians in pediatric cardiology departments at the University of Michigan questions about infant heart defect surgeries on Wednesday using the social networking Web site Twitter.

Richard Ohye, head of U-M's Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery division, and Jonh Charpie, head of U-M's Pediatric Cardiology division, will take questions from the public on pediatric heart defects from noon to 2 p.m.

Ohye was recently the lead author of a U-M study that found babies born with severely underdeveloped hearts were more likely to survive to their first birthday if they were treated with a new shunt procedure. But, the study found, it might not be the safest surgery long term.

Vaccine week for pre-teens

The state health department is pushing for parents to get their adolescent children vaccinated against diseases like meningitis, whooping cough and cervical cancer this week as they mark Pre-Teen Vaccine Week.

Immunity from childhood vaccines wears off over time and can put young teens at risk from serious and preventable illness, Michigan Department of Community Health Chief Medical Executive Greg Holzman said in a release.

Vaccines recommended for the age group include Tdap (which includes a tetanus), diphtheria, whooping cough booster, a second chickenpox shot if they've never had chickenpox and the HPV vaccine series (which protects against cervical cancer). Hepatitis B, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and polio may also be suggested.

If children are not already vaccinated against the flu, physicians may recommend they receive the vaccine for both the seasonal flu virus and the H1N1 flu virus. 

Families with pre-teens that do not have health insurance coverage for vaccines should ask their doctor or the local health department about the Vaccines for Children Program, which helps get affordable vaccines for kids.

Tina Reed covers health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at tinareed@annarbor.com, call her at 734-623-2535 or find her on Twitter @TreedinAA.