Statins Reduce Heart Disease Risk Even in Older Adults, Studies Find

Two studies published in The Lancet found cholesterol-lowering statins can reduce the risk of heart disease in older adults, according to United Press International . One study found that for 80 people 80 to 100 years old who take statins, one heart attack will be prevented — while three times as many people between age 50 and 59 would have to take the drugs to gain the same benefit. The second study indicated that cholesterol-lowering medications cut the risk for heart attack and stroke in those 75 years and older by 26 percent for every one-point reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Statins reduced the risk for these heart-related health events by 15 percent for every one-point reduction in LDL cholesterol among those 75 and younger. "With the proportion of people living beyond 70 years of age worldwide rapidly increasing, there is huge potential for . . . strategies aimed at lowering LDL cholesterol levels," said Copenhagen University Hospital Professor Børge Nordestgaard. However, the researchers stressed that these findings should not encourage people to wait to initiate statin treatment until they are older.