Despite the excellent success of lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc) cholesterol for treating coronaryheart disease (CHD), a major part of the population still suffer from CHD. This fact is more prominent among thehigh risk patients who receive lipid lowering treatment with statins. This treatment is based on the prevailing viewthat LDL cholesterol (LDLc) is the only important risk factor for CHD. It is well known that HDL plays a crucial rolefor preventing CHD. Several epidemiologic studies and clinical trials have reported that high density lipoproteincholesterol (HDLc) is an independent risk factor for CHD as well. A large scale meta-analysis of clinical trialsclearly supports that increasing HDLc is equally important as decreasing LDLc, suggesting that physicians should payattention to increasing HDLc as well as decreasing LDLc. Ongoing trials that are focused on this issue will test thishypothesis in the near future. (Korean Circulation J 2007;37:187-190)