Prescribing statins to prevent cardiovascular disease in older people 'a waste of time', according to study

15 June 2016

Lowering cholesterol with statins in a bid to prevent cardiovascular (CV) disease in older people is a ‘total waste of time’, according to the results of a controversial new study.

Findings published in the BMJ Open journal showed no association between low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol, and mortality in people aged 60 or over.

Some experts have disputed the findings saying they are fundamentally flawed as researchers only used one database, only included work published in English and did not take account of statin use by some participants during the observation period.

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