Objective To investigate the significance of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol after statin therapy on the outcomes of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) who underwent elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Materials and methods One hundred patients with CAD were included in this prospective study. All patients had elective PCI with their baseline LDL cholesterol less than 100 mg/dL. Patients were classified according to baseline HDL cholesterol into two groups: group I with normal HDL cholesterol levels (> 40 mg/dL for men or >50 mg/dL for women) and group II with low HDL cholesterol levels. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were reported in both groups at 6-month follow-up. Results During the follow-up, the low HDL cholesterol group had insignificantly higher rates of composite MACE. HDL cholesterol levels were inversely related to the occurrence of composite MACE (odds ratio for MACE: 0.3697, 95 % CI: 0.1421 to 0.9619; P=0.0414). Low HDL cholesterol on follow-up was a significant predictor of target vessel revascularization (TVR) (P=0.009). Conclusion Low HDL cholesterol was associated with high MACE after elective PCI and thus clearly influenced the prognosis