Wider Utilization of Statins in Prevention and Treatment of Heart Attacks and Strokes?

Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.P.H., the first Sir Richard Doll Professor and senior academic advisor to the dean in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, recently published a commentary in the American Journal of Medicine, about the benefits of statins in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes in subjects previously thought at too low a risk to be treated.

Hennekens and colleagues present new clinical and public health challenges with respect to the use of statins in primary prevention of heart attacks and strokes in apparently healthy subjects at low risk. Hennekens states that the evidence suggests that the more widespread and appropriate utilization of statins, as adjuncts, not alternatives to therapeutic lifestyle changes will yield net benefits in low risk , primary prevention patients, including those unwilling or unable to adopt therapeutic lifestyle changes.

Hennekens and colleagues conclude that "the available data suggest that there is no threshold for low density lipoprotein cholesterol below which there are no net benefits of statins. Therefore, there are new and emerging clinical challenges to healthcare providers suggesting the need for wider utilization of statins in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes."