Study urges wider statin use

The number of people suffering from cardiovascular disease that could benefit from statin drugs has been underestimated, it is claimed today.

Today’s report from the Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group says that the cost of treatment by the cholesterol-lowering drugs has been overstated and that existing guidelines are wrong.

The authors, presenting their findings in the British Medical Journal, say they arrived at this conclusion after analysing data contained in last year’s heart protection study from the Medical Research Council and British Heart Foundation.

They claim that the annual cost of statin treatment is no more than 2,500 pounds and that wider use could lead to cost-savings as hospital visits would be reduced.

The heart protection study saw 20,536 men aged between 40 and 80 with vascular disease or diabetes given either a statin treatment or a placebo for five years.

And today’s re-analysis adds that statins could be used on people as young as 35 and old as 85.

“Hence, statin therapy should be considered routinely for people across a wider age range and at lower risk of vascular disease than is currently the case,” the researchers conclude.