Abstract
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.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study Group. Randomised trial of cholesterol lowering in 4444 patients with coronary heart disease: The Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S). Lancet 1994;344:1383–1389.
Shepherd J, Cobbe SM, Ford I, et al. Prevention of coronary heart disease with pravastatin in men with hypercholesterolemia. West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study Group. N Engl J Med 1995;333:1301–1307.
Sacks FM, Pfeffer MA, Moye LA, et al. The effect of pravastatin on coronary events after myocardial infarction in patients with average cholesterol levels. Cholesterol and Recurrent Events Trial investigators. N Engl J Med 1996;335:1001–1009.
Downs JR, Clearfield M, Weis S, et al. Primary prevention of acute coronary events with lovastatin in men and women with average cholesterol levels: Results of AFCAPS/TexCAPS. Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study. JAMA 1998;279:1615–1622.
The Long-Term Intervention With Pravastatin In Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) study group. Prevention of cardiovascular events and death with pravastatin in patients with coronary heart disease and a broad range of initial cholesterol levels. N Engl J Med 1998;339:1349–1357.
Heart Protection Collaborative Study Group. MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study of cholesterol lowering with simvastatin in 20536 individuals: A randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2002;360:7–22.
Salam AM. Expanding indications of statins; implications of the Heart Protection Study. Expert Opin Investig Drugs 2003;12:509–513.
Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) final report. Circulation. 2002; 106(25):3143–3421.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salam, A.M. Lipid-Lowering Therapy in Patients with Average Cholesterol and High Cardiovascular Risk, Insights from the Heart Protection Study. Cardiovasc Drugs Ther 18, 387–389 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10557-005-5063-y
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10557-005-5063-y