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Statins (Cholesterol-lowering Drug) May Cut Heart Risk In Healthy Patients

Heart diseases may appear even at people with no high cholesterol problems. Recent studies have shown that statin, a drug which lowers cholesterol, seems to help these people too in their battle with heart illnesses.

The website BMJ published the results of 10 such studies where 70 000 people were involved, some of them having high amounts of cholesterol in their bodies, some with high blood pressure and others with diabetes or even completely healthy people. Lipitor, Zocor and other statins, have proved their benefits on all patients with heart disease risk no matter what their body condition was.

Researchers lead to the following observations: 12% fewer cases of death among patients who took statins and had other risk factors other than heart disease; 20% less strokes and 30% diminution in heart attacks among those treated with statins during the 4 years follow-up period.

Statin’s efficiency among people who suffered a stroke or a heart attack is now clearly confirmed by studies and experiments. This applies to patients with high LDL cholesterol and those with heart disease risk factors as well. The question now is whether this drug also benefits healthy people too, or only to those which are clearly affected by heart related risks.

A group of international researchers try to study whether statins could reduce the number of deaths and major heart diseases such as strokes and heart attack in healthy people without heart disease record. The researchers analyzed 10 studies which monetized and tracked patients for a period of 4 years. It compared statins against placebos or the control groups.

Result from these studies showed that compared to control groups, statin treatments cut death and decreased the risks of patients who don’t suffer any heart illnesses. The analysis also concluded that there is no significant differences between women and men, young people and old people and those with and without diabetes. It also revealed that there is no strong evidence that link statin therapy to increase risk of cancer on patients using the drug.

Researchers concluded that statin is an excellent drug, improvements on every patient’s condition being undeniable. However, further analysis is still required, in order to obtain the most accurate results about the benefits of this drug on different types of patients.