May 19, 2015

expert reaction to study investigating effect of cholesterol lowering drugs on stroke risk

Cholesterol-lowering drugs are often prescribed with the aim of preventing cardiovascular problems, and a paper published in The BMJ has reported that the use of such drugs was associated with a 30% lower risk of stroke in a group of people over the age of 65.

Dr Tim Chico, Reader in Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Sheffield, said:

“Cardiovascular disease including stroke is a major burden particularly in elderly people. This study suggests statins could prevent strokes in the over 75s although to prove this would need a large study randomising people to statins or placebo. Achieving the right balance of properly treating older patients while avoiding prescribing unnecessary drugs is often difficult but I welcome the message that we should not assume cardiovascular disease is inevitable in older people.”

Dr Mike Knapton, Associate Medical Director, British Heart Foundation, said:

“Three decades of research, much of it funded by the BHF, has shown that statins significantly reduce people’s risk of heart attack and stroke. This research study adds to that body of evidence.

“The research suggests that taking statins significantly cuts the risk of stroke for the over 65s, which is an important finding as this age group is often excluded from clinical trials. More research is now needed to tell us conclusively if we should be prescribing statins more widely to people of this age to help lower their risk of a stroke.”

‘Primary prevention with lipid lowering drugs and long term risk
of vascular events in older people: population based cohort study’ by Alpérovitch et al. published in The BMJ on Tuesday 19 May 2015.

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/?s=statins&cat

Declared interests

Dr Mike Knapton and Dr Tim Chico have no conflicts of interest to declare.