Study recommends wider use of statins

Study recommends wider use of statins

A recent study by the Medical Research Council in Oxford and the University of Sydney and National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia led to the conclusion that frequent use of the cholesterol-reducing drug statin can lessen the chances of being struck by a heart attack or a stroke by almost a third.

As of now, statins are mainly prescribed for patients who have high cholesterol levels. But the research conducted on more than 90,000 people revealed that the drug is very much capable of reducing the chances of heart illness even in patients suffering from low cholesterol.

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The main aim of the statin drug is to vary the action of the cholesterol-regulating enzyme in the liver for the better. Researches found that lessening the level of LDL by one mmol/L, bring down the chances of a heart attack or stroke by almost a fifth while reducing it by LDL level by 1.5 mmol/ decrease it by a third.

Pointing out other crucial factors likely to cause heart ailments like smoking, family history of heart problems, age, blood pressure etc, Anthony Keech, deputy director of the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, claims that statin should now be accessible to a broader variety of patients.

In Australia, currently this drug is only prescribed for patients whose cholesterol level is more than four. UK, on the other hand, became the first nation to permit over the counter sales of statins last year. The Government believed that this would help people take greater care of their health by preventing heart diseases.

The study also negated apprehensions regarding the chances of patients using statins being struck by some type of cancer or muscular diseases. No evidence of cancer was seen even among people using statins for almost half a decade. Though minor cases of muscle sourness were registered, it was only a rarity among the 90,000 people tested.

Considering this positive outcome of statin usage, Philip Barter, director of the Heart Research Institute in Sydney, said this should lead to more frequent use of statin in the future.

The findings, published in the Lancet medical journal, specify that irrespective of a person's cholesterol level, the chances of heart diseases are likely to reduce with the usage of statins.

Statins were also found to be much safer compared to many other drugs in the study.