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Is there Sufficient Enhancement of the Reduction in CVD Rates after a Decade of Statin Therapy to Justify Continuation?

  • Statin Drugs (MB Clearfield, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Randomized, controlled clinical trials have shown significant benefits of statin therapy in patients with or at risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). But these trials typically enroll patients for only 5 years or so, prompting some clinicians to ask what the longer term follow-up of these patients will show. While most trials have a duration of only approximately 5 years, four large trials report extended post-trial follow-up to 10 years, and these trials, as well as multiple large cohort studies, suggest an expected benefit of statins’ effects beyond 10 years. In this review we will summarize the current state of the literature, the benefits noted to date, and the potentially accumulating, adverse effects of long-term statin use.

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Conflict of Interest

Jonathan Soverow declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Karol Watson serves on a Clinical Trials Adjudication Committee for Merck.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Division of Cardiology, UCLA Medical Center, 100 UCLA Medical Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Jonathan Soverow & Karol Watson

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  1. Jonathan Soverow
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Correspondence to Jonathan Soverow.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Statin Drugs

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Soverow, J., Watson, K. Is there Sufficient Enhancement of the Reduction in CVD Rates after a Decade of Statin Therapy to Justify Continuation?. Curr Atheroscler Rep 16, 432 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-014-0432-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-014-0432-2

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