Interesting thing with cholesterol is that many (50%+) of people who have heart attacks have normal levels of cholesterol. In other words, there is not a strong correlation between high cholesterol and heart attacks:

Two years earlier, Göran K. Hansson showed that 50 to 75% of people who have heart attacks have normal levels of cholesterol. Add to that the fact that nearly 75% of patients who are hospitalized for a heart attack have cholesterol levels that do not indicate a high risk for a cardiovascular event (at least according to current national cholesterol guidelines).

Simply put, cholesterol levels are a weak predictor of who will have a heart attack. And it’s gotten to the point where some people are refusing to have their blood cholesterol measured.

http://io9.com/what-we-know-now-about-cholesterol-that-we-didnt-10-ye-1029869257