Guidelines on who is eligible for statins may need to be rewritten after an international trial found benefits in "healthy" adults, experts say. The study of 17,800 men and women with normal cholesterol levels found rosuvastatin cut deaths from heart attacks and strokes. The results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The patients in the trial, funded by AstraZeneca, had cholesterol levels below those usually indicating a need for treatment and had no other signs of heart disease. These are people who have an intermediate risk and you wouldn't normally prescribe statins for them in the UK. But they did have increased levels of a C-reactive protein, which indicates inflammation in the body and is believed to be a marker of future cardiovascular events. After an average follow-up of two years, 20mg a day of rosuvastatin was found to have cut cholesterol by 50% and C-reactive protein by 37%. Overall, the chance of a heart attack, stroke, hospital admission for chest pain or death from cardiovascular disease was cut by 44%, researchers said.
Bonnie & Steve - the entire trial was funded by AstraZeneca. The researchers have all received consulting fees, grants, and speaker fees from AZ as well as other drug companies.
If you recall, Crestor was indicated for its potentially severe side effects, more so than any other class of statin. A rise in the numbers of new diabetics was a "puzzling" side effect of the drug, but not the first time it has been indicated in statin therapy.
In addition, Crestor brought the CRP down from 4.2 to 1.8 in two years. With diet and nutients, I can bring a CRP to normal in six months.
As we predicted years ago when statins were introduced, Big Pharma would be pushing them for everyone, including healthy people, to take as "lifestyle drugs." Well, here we are.
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