Statins

A recommendation from an influential doctors group that some children as young as 8 be aggressively treated with cholesterol-lowering drugs has triggered debate over whether there is enough scientific evidence to justify such a move. Statins, already among the most widely prescribed drugs, have been shown to lower the risk of heart disease in certain adults. But there are no comparable long-term studies for children. "We don't know the risks and the benefits," said Dr. Beatrice A.

Lipitor, Zocor and similar cholesterol lowering drugs failed to prevent colon cancer in a study, dimming hope the pills taken by millions of Americans could thwart one of the nation's leading killers. Laboratory and animal research has suggested in the past that the drugs, called statins, may have anti-cancer properties, blocking compounds the damaged cells need to grow and spread. Studies in people, though, have yielded mixed results.

People who use statin drugs are less likely to die of influenza and chronic bronchitis, according to research that shows yet another unexpected benefit of the cholesterol-lowering medications. The study of more than 76,000 people showed that those who had taken statins for at least 90 days had a much lower risk of dying from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, the technical name for emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Doctors have prescribed statin drugs to millions of people to reduce their cholesterol levels and thus cut the risk of heart attacks. The pharmaceutical company Merck & Co has asked the Food and Drug Administration to let pharmacies sell a lower dose formulation of the company's statin drug Mevacor, also known as lovastatin, over the counter. On Thursday, an FDA advisory panel recommended that the agency reject Merck's third such request. The FDA is expected to make a decision early next year.

Popular statin drugs widely used to lower cholesterol to prevent heart disease apparently do not reduce the risk of cancer, despite a flurry of recent studies suggesting a strong anti-cancer benefit, two scientific investigations report today. Statins are the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States and include Lipitor, Zocor, Mevacor, Crestor, Pravachol and Lescol.

Taking prescription beta blocker or statin drugs appears to boost the chances of having only mild chest pain instead of a heart attack as the first symptom of heart disease. Scientists studied 1,400 patients newly diagnosed with heart disease to try to pinpoint why some had a heart attack while others experienced chest pain known as exercise-induced angina, which is far less dangerous.

She was in good health, rode horses regularly and, as an articulate attorney, was not one to simply accept my medical advice without explanation. She came in for yearly checkups, and we had developed a good rapport during the last 10 years. Our main discussion concerned her cholesterol level: It generally ranged between 230 and 260, with a "bad" cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein) measurement of between 140 and 160.

Intensive doses of a cholesterol-lowering statin drug have for the first time cleared sticky plaque lodged in arteries, opening the possibility of a nonsurgical method of treating the major cause of heart attacks, researchers reported Monday. The results were seen in a study of 500 patients taking the highest recommended dosage of Crestor -- 40 milligrams -- quadruple the typical starting dose of 10 milligrams.

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can reduce the incidence of the most common type of cataract by 45%, according to a five-year study of nearly 1,300 people. The findings surprised researchers because several potential cholesterol-lowering drugs never made it to market after studies showed they caused cloudiness and other eye problems. The current study, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Offering a new way to treat stroke patients, researchers reported Wednesday that high doses of a cholesterol-lowering statin drug could reduce the risk of another attack and strokerelated death. The statin Lipitor lowered the risk of another stroke 16% and reduced fatal strokes 41%, according to the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Stroke kills 160,000 Americans each year, making it the third leading cause of death in the U.S., behind heart disease and cancer.