Lipid-lowering therapy in patients with average cholesterol and high cardiovascular risk, insights from the Heart Protection Study.

Overview

Although the benefits of cholesterol-lowering with statins has been established for patients with high cholesterol levels as well as for patients with prior occlusive coronary heart disease, substantial uncertainty has existed about the long-term benefits of these agents in particular types of patient, including patients with moderate or low baseline cholesterol levels pre-treatment, women, the elderly, and those with prior occlusive non-coronary vascular disease. The Heart Protection Study was designed to resolve these uncertainties and to provide substantially more safety information of statins. In this report the study is presented with the significance and practical implications of the results briefly discussed.