Statin News and Research

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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.

Heart attack risk for people with HIV nearly 50% higher than predicted

Current methods to predict the risk of heart attack and stroke vastly underestimate the risk in individuals with HIV, which is nearly double that of the general population, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

21 Dec 2016

NHS Health Checks may have prevented up to 8,400 heart attacks and strokes, review reveals

The NHS Health Check programme in England may have prevented an estimated 4,600 to 8,400 heart attacks, strokes, or death from these causes in its first five years, according to an independent review of the programme led by Queen Mary University of London.

19 Dec 2016

Reducing cholesterol to level of newborn baby lowers cardiovascular disease risk, research finds

Reducing our cholesterol levels to those of a new-born baby significantly lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to new research.

16 Dec 2016

Common anti-cholesterol drugs show promise for reducing Alzheimer's disease risk

Common anti-cholesterol drugs show promise for reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease, a University of Southern California-led study of Medicare data reveals.

14 Dec 2016

PCSK9 and HMGCR genetic variations that lower bad cholesterol affect risk of cardiovascular events

In a new study published in the December 1, 2016 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a collaboration of international researchers, studied variants in the genes encoding HMGCR and PCSK9 that affect cholesterol levels, and found that variants that lowered LDL (or "bad") cholesterol in each gene were associated with nearly identical protective effects on the risk of cardiovascular events per unit reduction in LDL cholesterol.

30 Nov 2016

Statins can help prevent first time heart attacks, strokes in adults with cardiovascular risk factors

Cholesterol-lowering drugs help prevent heart attacks and strokes in adults with cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking, but have not yet had a heart attack or stroke, according to a large-scale analysis of clinical trial data led by the OHSU Pacific Northwest Evidence-Based Practice Center.

14 Nov 2016

USPSTF recommends use of low- to moderate-dose statins for preventing CVD events in adults

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has issued a recommendation statement regarding the use of statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults. The report appears in the November 15 issue of JAMA.

14 Nov 2016

New guidelines recommend use of antiplatelet therapy and exercise program for treatment of PAD

New guidelines for the treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD), include recommendations on the use of antiplatelet therapy to reduce the risk of blood clots and statin drugs to lower cholesterol and advise PAD patients to participate in a structured exercise program.

13 Nov 2016

High-intensity statin treatments increase survival rates in patients with cardiovascular disease

A large national study has confirmed the value of high-intensity statin treatments for people with cardiovascular disease, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

9 Nov 2016

Risk and reality do not always match up in prostate cancer biopsies, research suggests

When it comes to prostate cancer biopsies, risk and reality don't always match up, according to research published online today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

1 Nov 2016

Small changes in diet can reduce CVD risk by 30%

Exchanging few commercially regular-consumed food items with improved fat quality reduces total and LDL cholesterol.

14 Oct 2016

NCDR provides data to study appropriate use of oral anticoagulant therapy

The American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry was the source of data for research published throughout 2016, including a study examining if atrial fibrillation patients are being prescribed oral anticoagulants, how appropriate use criteria correlates to angioplasty rates and the variation among racial groups for revascularization procedures.

30 Sep 2016

Study evaluates link between lowering LDL-C and CV risk reduction across statin and nonstatin therapies

In a study appearing in the September 27 issue of JAMA, Marc S. Sabatine, M.D., M.P.H., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues evaluated the association between lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and relative cardiovascular risk reduction across different statin and nonstatin therapies.

27 Sep 2016

HIJ-PROPER trial: Intensive cholesterol-lowering regimen in ACS patients shows no better outcomes

Survival and other cardiovascular outcomes were not significantly reduced with intensive treatment using a second-line cholesterol-lowering medication on top of a standard statin, compared to statin treatment alone in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and dyslipidemia, investigators reported here.

29 Aug 2016

Small dense HDL particles protectively linked to coronary heart disease risk

The idea that plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) is protective against coronary heart disease has been part of medical conventional wisdom for five decades.

3 Aug 2016

New report reveals prescription medication costs may increase up to 13% in 2016

Prescription medication costs are expected to rise at least 11 percent, and possibly up to 13 percent, in 2016, according to a new report on national trends and projections in prescription drug expenditures.

18 Jul 2016

Omega-3 PUFA biomarkers demonstrate benefits for fatal CHD

Regular consumption of seafood and plant-based omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids could help lower the risk of fatal coronary heart disease, confirm findings from a pooled analysis of 19 studies.

30 Jun 2016

Older adults with high LDL-C live longer than peers with low levels of same cholesterol, say experts

A University of South Florida professor and an international team of experts have found that older people with high levels of a certain type of cholesterol, known as low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), live as long, and often longer, than their peers with low levels of this same cholesterol.

27 Jun 2016

Real-world analysis questions very low LDL targets

Patients treated for hypercholesterolaemia in clinical practice may not derive additional benefit from very intensive statin treatment, say researchers.

22 Jun 2016

Statins can lower infection risk by 58% in stroke patients

A Washington State University researcher has found that statin drugs can dramatically lower the risk of infections in stroke patients.

17 Jun 2016