Statins should not be taken if you have severe liver disease or if blood tests suggest that your liver may not be working properly.
By Steven Reinberg.
But this study has limitations and doesn't necessarily mean that UK recommendations to prescribe statins for older adults are incorrect.The main limitation is that the study relies on observational evidence, rather than being a randomised controlled trial. "They say that their results, being based on observational data, "may not provide enough grounds for direct clinical recommendations", but they "may help to make decisions in clinical practice" while awaiting the results of randomised controlled trials of statins for older people. “We have lots of evidence of benefit in middle-aged adults (at normal risk) – tens of thousands of patients evaluated in randomized trials. This seems to differ from the situation in Europe and the US, where the recommendation is to offer statins to people aged up to 65 and 75, respectively. The New York Times recently addressed the topic of people over age 75 taking statins for the prevention of heart disease. The risks from statins are quite small, and this study found no reason to stop taking them. This means we can't be sure why people were given statins and so can't exclude the possibility that factors other than statins affected the results.
Author information: (1)New England Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA.
But the results of this trial aren't expected to be available until 2022.In practice, doctors will consider the benefits and potential drawbacks of taking statins on an individual basis. Statins have prolonged the lives of many people after a first heart attack or stroke, and prevented many repeat heart attacks and strokes for these people.
Others are so concerned to avoid heart attacks or strokes that they are eager to take preventive therapies.Older adults who have been taking statins as a preventive measure, or whose primary caregiver presents the drugs for consideration, might find value in discussing statins’ health risks and benefits with their physician.Copyright 2020 University of Washington | Seattle | All rights reserved | Statins have been shown to lower cholesterol, reducing plaque that accumulates in blood vessels. The researchers looked separately at age groups 75 to 84 and 85 plus, and at people with and without type 2 diabetes. They looked at what happened to those prescribed statins for the first time, with an average follow-up time of 7.7 years. HealthDay Reporter.
Also, although the overall size of the study is large, some of the sub-groups are quite small. Hawley CE(1)(2), Roefaro J(3), Forman DE(4)(5), Orkaby AR(6)(7). They selected records from patients over 75 without cardiovascular disease who weren't taking statins and were also free of major diseases such as cancer and dementia. It's not advised to stop taking prescribed medicines without talking to your doctor first. If people given statins were less healthy and had been assessed to have a higher cardiovascular risk than people not given the drugs, this could have masked the beneficial effects of treatment. This would include most people over 75. In contrast, statins used at age 85 were found to be independently associated with improved survival from age 85 to 90, after adjustment in the models 1, 2, and 3.
They calculated people's chances of having died or developed cardiovascular disease during the follow-up period, and compared the chances for people who did or didn't take statins. It was funded by grants from the Spanish and Catalan governments, as well as from the EU. You can then make a decision together, based on your circumstances and preferences.The Times (subscription required), 6 September 2018 For example, The Independent included a reaction from Tim Chico, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Sheffield, who said: "Due to its design, this study cannot tell us whether or not statins reduce death or cardiovascular disease in older people. "This type of observational study is useful for comparing what happens to groups of people in different situations (in this case, people over 75 who have or haven't been prescribed statins), but it can't show cause and effect. Statins for Primary Prevention in Those Aged 70 Years and Older: A Critical Review of Recent Cholesterol Guidelines. The research showed no increase in risk of muscle pain, liver problems or diagnosis with type 2 diabetes among people taking statins.The researchers said: "Our results support the need to individualise the decision-making process about statin treatment in old and very old populations. "Millions given statins 'just in case' are wasting their time and don't receive any benefit," reports the Mail Online.