Statin therapy is associated with key health benefits for high-risk patients with no prior history of cardiovascular disease, according to new research published Dec. 6 in JAMA Network Open and the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.[1, 2]
Both research teams aimed to see if statin therapy should be recommended for high-risk patients who do not already have high cholesterol or cardiovascular disease. While the JAMA Network Open study focused on patients presenting with chronic kidney disease (CKD), the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society study focused on those presenting varying degrees of frailty.
“Statins are a first line class of drugs that can lower cholesterol and lower the risk of a second heart attack or stroke in people who have already had one—there’s no question about that,” Ariela Orkaby, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a co-author of both studies, said in statement. “However, many clinicians still don’t agree on whether statins should be used as a preventative treatment for people who haven’t had a heart attack or stroke yet, but are at high risk due to age or other factors.”
For the analysis published in JAMA Network Open, researchers focused on data from nearly 15,000 U.S. veterans with CKD. The mean patient age at the time of CKD diagnosis was 77 years old. While 99% of patients were men, 72% were white. No patients had a prior history of CVD.
Overall, statin therapy was linked to a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality. The risk of experiencing a major adverse cardiac event (MACE) was also lower, but the difference was not statistically significant.
For the analysis published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, meanwhile, researchers examined data from more than 710,00 U.S. veterans with a mean age of 75 years old.. The cohort included more than 86,000 participants who were frail. Again, no patients had a prior history of CVD.
In that study, statin therapy was linked to a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality in addition to a lower MACE risk. This was true among frail and non-frail patients.
“Our findings demonstrate statins have a protective effect even in people who haven’t had their first major cardiac event, which means there are still benefits to prescribing these medications for primary prevention of heart disease,” Orkaby said in the same statement.
Orkaby did note that much more research is still needed on the long-term benefits of statin therapy among patients without a prior history of CVD. For now, however, these medications should be viewed as safe and effective “until we have clinical data that suggest otherwise.”
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.