Statin News and Research

RSS

Statins are drugs used to lower cholesterol. Your body needs some cholesterol to work properly. But if you have too much in your blood, it can stick to the walls of your arteries, narrowing or even blocking them.

Psoriasis drug also effective at reducing aortic inflammation

Ustekinumab, sold under the name Stelara, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Crohn's Disease. Researchers wanted to know if the benefits of the drug go beyond clearing the skin.

18 Feb 2018

Blood pressure and cholesterol lowering drugs do not negatively affect erectile function, study says

New study provides reassurance for men taking blood pressure and cholesterol modifying medications, reports the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

29 Jan 2018

Statins appear to reduce risk of repeated surgery in patients who undergo vitrectomy

According to a Finnish study, statin medication seems to reduce the risk of repeated surgery in patients who undergo a vitrectomy to treat a detached retina. The researchers believe that statins might prevent the formation of scar tissue inside the eye.

19 Jan 2018

Researchers uncover powerful new model for studying hallmark of vascular disease

While refining ways to grow arterial endothelial cells in the lab, a regenerative biology team at the Morgridge Institute for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison unexpectedly unearthed a powerful new model for studying a hallmark of vascular disease.

9 Jan 2018

Chronic Kidney Disease Audit finds wide variations in coding of CKD patients in primary care

Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, Clinical Commissioning Groups and primary care practices must all work together to improve outcomes for patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), according to the national Chronic Kidney Disease Audit published today.

15 Dec 2017

An overlooked epidemic: Older Americans taking too many unneeded drugs

Consider it America’s other prescription drug epidemic. For decades, experts have warned that older Americans are taking too many unnecessary drugs, often prescribed by multiple doctors, for dubious or unknown reasons.

12 Dec 2017

Study highlights need to improve quality of cardiovascular care for HIV-positive adults

People with both HIV and risk factors for heart disease and stroke were less likely to be treated with cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and aspirin than patients without HIV. The researchers believe this to be the first national study comparing statin use in patients with and without HIV and the first extensive analysis using U.S. data.

23 Nov 2017

Analysis finds simple method to identify patients most likely to benefit from long-term canakinumab treatment

A new analysis seeks to answer the question of which patients are likely to gain the greatest cardiovascular benefit when treated with the anti-inflammatory agent canakinumab.

14 Nov 2017

PCSK9 inhibitor offers clinical benefit to patients with peripheral artery disease

Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) are at high risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death. In addition, PAD patients can suffer major adverse limb events, such as acute limb ischemia - the equivalent of a heart attack in the leg - that can lead to limb loss.

14 Nov 2017

Heart attack, stroke patients have improved outcomes when statins are prescribed after discharge

Patients with a prior history of heart attacks or stroke have better outcomes when cholesterol-lowering medications are used after they're discharged from the hospital, according to a new study from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City.

13 Nov 2017

Stents implanted in the coronary blood vessels may not provide extra benefit

Percutanous angioplasty involves insertion of a stent into a blocked or narrowed coronary artery that eases the blood flow and relieves the pain of severe angina or a heart attack. It is being routinely practiced worldwide. A new study called ORBITA, has revealed that not all patients who undergo this procedure benefit from it.

3 Nov 2017

Breakthrough discovery could change the way of treating cholesterol

A breakthrough discovery by scientists at Houston Methodist could change the way we treat cholesterol. Researchers found new evidence that challenges a 40-year notion of how fast we eliminate it from our bodies.

28 Oct 2017

Daily aspirin therapy linked to reduced risk of HBV‐related liver cancer

A new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that daily aspirin therapy was significantly associated with a reduced risk in hepatitis B virus‐related liver cancer.

20 Oct 2017

Mitochondrial DNA copy number appears to be predictive of sudden cardiac death, heart attacks

Johns Hopkins researchers report that the level, or "copy number," of mitochondrial DNA--genetic information stored not in a cell's nucleus but in the body's energy-creating mitochondria--is a novel and distinct biomarker that is able to predict the risk of heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths a decade or more before they happen.

11 Oct 2017

Statin use linked to reduced risk of S aureus bloodstream infection

Users of statins, widely prescribed for prevention of cardiac disease, have a 27% lower risk of contracting a Staphylococcus aureus (S aureus) bloodstream infection outside of a hospital, according to a new study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

3 Oct 2017

Out-of-pocket costs often keep pricey new cholesterol drugs out of reach, study finds

Access to powerful new cholesterol-lowering drugs is so tightly controlled and patients' out-of-pocket costs are so high that fewer than a third of people whose doctors prescribe the drugs get them, a new study found.

30 Sep 2017

Study finds high rate of prescriptions not filled for new cholesterol lowering drugs

In the first year of availability of the cholesterol lowering medications PCSK9 inhibitors, fewer than 1 in 3 adults initially prescribed one of these inhibitors actually received it, owing to a combination of out-of-pocket costs and lack of insurance approval, according to a study published by JAMA Cardiology.

27 Sep 2017

Statin News and Research

Further Reading