Preventive use of statins in people who are not currently at risk for heart disease may prevent future cardiovascular events and help reduce health care costs, say US scientists, whose conclusions appear in the journal Circulation.
A team at Stanford University School of Medicine in California looked at the effect of statins on the risk of heart attack or stroke in patients who had low cholesterol, but higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), which signals inflammation, and therefore may mean a higher risk of these episodes. The researchers set out to test two strategies – increasing the total number of people taking statins and prescribing them to people with high CRP levels.
In fact, each of these strategies offered greater benefits than what we are doing now, says study author Dr Mark Hlatky, adding that simply lowering the threshold from which patients are prescribed statins proved to be a slightly better alternative.
Currently, doctors recommend statins to people who have a 10% risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next 20 years. or more. According to the researchers, the optimal strategy assumes that men without risk factors should start taking statins at the age of 55 (PAP).