February 1, 2019

statins – the efficacy and safety of their use in older people

Most individual statin trials previously considered ‘elderly’ people those aged over 65 years of age. Due to advances in medicine, life expectancies are now much greater. As a consequence, questions around the effectiveness of treatments in the elderly have become more focused on even older age groups.

This paper presents the largest (and only) accumulation of individual participant data from all the major statin trials in the world. Unlike a traditional meta-analysis, which typically involves compiling the overall published results from trials, the analysis unites the original (individual participant) trial data, which allows far more accurate analyses to be performed. The paper is therefore unique in being able to address an important gap in current evidence relating to the effectiveness of statins in older people.

Speakers:

Professor Colin Baigent: Director of the Medical Research Council Population Health Research Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford

Professor Borislava (Boby) Mihaylova: Associate Professor, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford