Statins don't help patients without heart disease

Published: 2010-09-17

Statins have been shown to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality among individuals with clinical history of coronary heart disease. But do they have similar benefit in a high-risk primary prevention setting? The latest meta-analysis of 11 prospective, randomised trials has explored the effects of statin therapy on all-cause mortality among high-risk individuals without cardiovascular disease at baseline. Together, the studies comprised 65,229 participants who were followed for approximately 244,000 person-years [1].

This literature-based meta-analysis did not find evidence for the benefit of statin therapy on all-cause mortality in a high-risk primary prevention set-up. NICE already says that “The PROSPER trial found that statins did not reduce CHD and stroke events in men and women over age 69 without heart disease” [2].

1. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(12):1024-31.

2. www.guidelines.gov/content.aspx?id=14258#Section420