Statins

Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins can reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes among diabetics by a quarter to a third, even in patients who do not have high cholesterol levels, according to a major new British study. Giving the drugs to the 17 million Americans with diabetes could prevent as many as 170,000 heart attacks and strokes each year, researchers said. Worldwide, the drugs could prevent more than 1 million such events each year, they added.

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.

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.

IN seeking ways to prevent prostate cancer, medical research has frequently turned to the supermarket. Walk around a grocery store and you'll find subjects of intense scientific scrutiny in the produce section (vegetables, especially broccoli), condiment aisle (ketchup and tomato sauce) and vitamin shelf (vitamin E and selenium). In recent years, however, much of the promising research has involved common products found in the pharmacy.

Giving statin drugs within 24 hours of a heart attack decreases the short-term death rate by more than 50%, according to a study published Monday. The study suggested that statins, now widely used to lower cholesterol levels, might have a powerful effect in decreasing the inflammation of heart muscle that occurs immediately after an attack. But several experts expressed doubt about the dramatic results, arguing that the study was poorly conceived.

Researchers have found the first direct evidence that reducing inflammation in coronary arteries decreases the risk of heart attacks as powerfully as the conventional strategy of reducing cholesterol levels -- a finding that offers a new approach to preventing heart disease. Two studies published today show that inflammation of the arteries can be reduced by more aggressive use of statins, a family of drugs already used to lower cholesterol.

Offering a "sea change" in the treatment of heart disease, a major study released Monday shows that using maximum doses of statin drugs to sharply lower cholesterol levels of heart attack victims could eliminate more than a quarter of deaths from subsequent attacks. Some heart attack victims are already given statins, but all should receive them, and they should receive much higher doses than are now used, said Dr. Christopher P. Cannon of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Levels of LDL, or "bad," cholesterol fell by about a third from 1999 to 2006 among American adults, a study has found -- probably because of the influence of statin drugs on blood lipid levels. However, a large number of people still have excessively high levels of LDL cholesterol, are not being treated for it, and may even be unaware of their levels, the study also found. The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., examined LDL cholesterol levels among more than 7,000 men and women across four study cycles: 1999-2000, 2001-2002, 2003-2004 and 2005-2006.

Studies See New Way to Reduce Heart Risk," Jan. 6: Well, it seems we have a new wonder drug -- the statins. According to the Jan. 6 story, "Studies See New Way to Reduce Heart Risk," two recent medical journal articles found that statins are a "perfect marriage" between a drug and a disease. We are on the verge of a major breakthrough in heart disease. Lives will be saved as the use of these already prevalent drugs skyrocket. I sincerely hope the authors of these articles are correct.

The risk of stroke or death following the most commonly performed stroke-prevention surgery is sharply reduced if patients receive cholesterollowering drugs called statins before the operation, researchers said Thursday. As many as 180,000 Americans undergo carotid endarterectomies each year to remove or stabilize plaque in neck arteries that would otherwise break off and trigger strokes, but the operation can occasionally cause a stroke.