Statin Drug Heart Benefits May be Long-Lasting
It was highlighted by researchers on the 10th October 2007 how statin drugs could have a positive effect on the heart for some time after those taking them completed their course. The research was carried out by a team at the University of Glasgow, led by Ian Ford. In it, it was observed how men who had been taking pravastatin over a five year period were less likely to suffer heart attacks, even a decade after their use of the drug ceased.
6,595 male patients took part in the study, all of whom were in middle-age, all of whom volunteered, and all of whom had high levels of cholesterol, but were heart attack-free. They were prescribed either pravastatin, or a placebo.
Within the pravastatin group, the chance of heart disease triggering a heart attack, or proving fatal, was quantified at 11.8 per cent. Within the placebo group, the comparable figure was 15.5 per cent.
The Scottish team's report appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. In it, they wrote how: "Statin treatment for an average of five years provided an ongoing reduction in the risk of coronary events for an additional period of up to 10 years."
The most significant benefit - a forty per cent risk decrease in respect of death caused by a heart attack/heart disease - was observed in patients still taking pravastatin. However, in the years following completion of the first strand of research, the percentage dropped only to 18.
Pravastatin is a product of Bristol-Myers Squibb - who market it as Pravachol - but it has now been manufactured generically. No significant, permanent side effects have been attached to it.
The team's research remains ongoing.
Source - Pharmaceutical International's Health Reporter
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