Patients who suffer from high levels of LDL cholesterol are at risk of

Question

Patients who suffer from high levels of LDL cholesterol are at risk of heart disease and heart attacks. Patients can lower their levels of LDL cholesterol through lifestyle changes and drug treatment. Lifestyle changes can lower cholesterol levels and are necessary to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, although some patients with the highest levels of cholesterol must undergo drug treatment to bring their cholesterol to a manageable level.

If the statements above are true, then which of the following must also be true?

A. Individuals who do not have the highest level of LDL cholesterol should not undergo drug treatment.
B. Lifestyle changes do not lower levels of LDL cholesterol as drastically as does drug treatment.
C. The only ways of lowering LDL cholesterol are through lifestyle changes and drug treatment.
D. Individuals with high levels of LDL cholesterol cannot maintain healthy cholesterol levels through drug treatment alone.
E. Only lifestyle changes are necessary to treat patients who do not have the highest levels of LDL cholesterol.

Source: McGraw-Hill's GMAT

abhimahna · Accepted Answer

This question is very similar to other OG questions where we say two things, say A and B, are necessary for something, say X.

We infer that Only A or Only B will not help to get X.

A: Lifestyle changes
B: drug treatment
X: healthy cholesterol levels

Very high LDL --> Drug Treatment --> Manageable level --> Lifestyle changes --> healthy cholesterol levels.

So, we can say if you have very high LDL, you cannot get healthy cholesterol levels unless you follow both treatments.

This is what option D is doing. Hence, correct.

leanhdung · Answer

Patients who suffer from high levels of LDL cholesterol are at risk of heart disease and heart attacks. Patients can lower their levels of LDL cholesterol through lifestyle changes and drug treatment.  Lifestyle changes  can lower cholesterol levels and  are necessary to maintain healthy cholesterol levels , although some patients with the highest levels of cholesterol must undergo drug treatment to bring their cholesterol to a manageable level.

If the statements above are true, then which of the following must also be true?

A. Individuals who do not have the highest level of LDL cholesterol should not undergo drug treatment.
B. Lifestyle changes do not lower levels of LDL cholesterol as drastically as does drug treatment.
C. The only ways of lowering LDL cholesterol are through lifestyle changes and drug treatment.
D. Individuals with high levels of LDL cholesterol cannot maintain healthy cholesterol levels through drug treatment alone.
--> correct as highlighted in green color.
E. Only lifestyle changes are necessary to treat patients who do not have the highest levels of LDL cholesterol.

olito · Answer

You can decompose the argument as the following :

Part 1:  LDL Cholesterol levels can be lowered through lifestyle changes and drug treatment 
 Part 2:   Lifestyle change can lower the level and is necessary 
 Part 3:  Patients with the highest levels still have to use medication to have manageable cholesterol levels ( This implies that the lifestyle change by itself is not sufficient for extreme cases)

As a reminder this is an  inference question , which means that a right answer  must be 100% true , and an answer that is 99% is 100% 
wrong.

A. Individuals who do not have the highest level of LDL cholesterol  should not undergo drug treatment. This was not mentioned anywhere, you can't assume that.

B. Lifestyle changes do not lower levels of LDL cholesterol as  drastically  as does drug treatment.  Drastically is the word that kills this answer choice. It is the perfect  trap answer  if you do not read carefully until the end. A right answer could have been that "Lifestyle changes can not always lower levels of LDL Cholesterol to a manageable level.

C. The  only  ways of lowering LDL cholesterol are through lifestyle changes and drug treatment.  Be careful with the word only, it is a bit extreme ! Can we conclude from the prompt that there are no other ways to lower cholesterol ? No

D. Individuals with high levels of LDL cholesterol cannot maintain healthy cholesterol levels through drug treatment alone.  This is it ! It is was was warped in answer choice B. This is the right answer !

E.  Only  lifestyle changes are necessary to treat patients who do not have the highest levels of LDL cholesterol.  "Only" again ! Can we be sure that only lifestyle changes are necessary ? No

IMO that's why D is correct.

A small comment about the word " only " for inference questions. When you have the word "only" in answer choices,  it doesn't mean that the answer choice is wrong  (even though it's wrong quite often). Instead of getting rid of an answer choice that has the word only in it right away, you should be twice as careful and make sure that the word only is correctly used in the answer choice !

MPRS22 · Answer

Actually I don't think D is correct. The set, talks about those with the highest levels of cholesterol not those with high levels

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

A. Individuals who do not have the highest level of LDL cholesterol should not undergo drug treatment.
We are npt ina situation to dtermine whether intermediate level of cholestrol do not mandate drug prescription

B. Lifestyle changes do not lower levels of LDL cholesterol as drastically as does drug treatment.
We are unable to determine the rate of decrement of cholestrol levels by drug or lifestyle changes

C. The only ways of lowering LDL cholesterol are through lifestyle changes and drug treatment.
Here too the premise states only 2 of the changes however adiitional is requisite in determinig whether other methods exist

D. Individuals with high levels of LDL cholesterol cannot maintain healthy cholesterol levels through drug treatment alone.
As lifestyle changes are carried out in the lne of drug treatment we have to consifer this option

E. Only lifestyle changes are necessary to treat patients who do not have the highest levels of LDL cholesterol.
Same as A we cannot dedcide the same with the stated premise 
Hence IMO D

VerbalBot · Answer

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Patients who suffer from high levels of LDL cholesterol are at risk of

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