How important is this ratio? I have had high cholesterol for years, but my doctors have always refused to prescribe me a statin because they said this ratio is fine i.e. my HDL levels are high too.

Now, I have been told I have advanced small vessel disease, which is being put down to my high cholesterol as I have no other risk factors. Suddenly the HDL/LDL ratio is not what matters, if the overall level is high.

Clearly a contradiction between what my doctors are telling me now, and what they have told me for the last five years. What is the truth of the matter?