Yet more evidence that the cholesterol-lowering drugs statins benefit people without heart disease was published yesterday.
Yet more evidence that the cholesterol-lowering drugs statins benefit people without heart disease was published yesterday.
Millions more patients across the world could be advised to take statins preventively after a series of research papers suggested they dramatically cut the risk of heart attacks.
The UK Government's heart tsar, Professor Roger Boyle, has given his support to the idea of giving people statins to prevent ill health in the future.
The latest research, published online in the British Medical Journal, concluded the drugs should be given to people who do not have signs of heart disease but who do have other risk factors such as a family history of the disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
The review of 10 trials involved more than 70,000 patients whose health was tracked for an average of four years.
Experts found that statins cut the number of deaths from all causes during the four-year period by 12% in patients without heart disease.
It also reduced the risk of events such as heart attacks by 30%.
The researchers, from the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, could not say exactly which groups would benefit the most from long-term statin use but suggested targeting men over 65 with known risks, or older women with risks like diabetes.
Cathy Ross, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "It is well established that most people with heart and circulatory disease benefit from taking statins.
"This study brings together evidence from several clinical trials to highlight that statins can benefit people who don't have symptoms of heart and circulatory disease, termed primary prevention'.
"In Britain today, only people considered at a high risk of developing heart disease are prescribed statins for primary prevention.
"As the evidence accumulates and statins become less expensive it is likely that the threshold for using statins in primary prevention will fall."
The researchers concluded: "The current meta-analysis totalled 70,388 participants without established cardiovascular disease but with cardiovascular risk factors who were randomised to statin therapy or control.
"Statin therapy was associated with a significant risk reduction in all-cause mortality of 12%, in major coronary events of 30%, and in major cerebrovascular events of 19%.
"Moreover, statin use was not associated with an increased risk of cancer.
"These results are in line with those previously published on the effects of statins in secondary prevention."
