This common medication cuts heart-attack risk in older people

Millions of older, healthy Australians could soon be advised to start taking statins after landmark research found the medication reduced the risk of heart attack and stroke by 30 per cent in those over 70.

Until now, the benefits of taking the cholesterol-reducing drugs for otherwise healthy adults over 75 had been unclear. As a result, they had not been routinely prescribed as a preventative medicine for this cohort.

But a world-first clinical trial led by Monash University found the medication significantly reduced the risk of a major cardiovascular event in older adults who lived independently.

The findings, which were published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine on Saturday, also appear to dispel a persistent and false claim that statins cause dementia.

Co-author Dr Mark Nelson, a GP and adjunct professor at Monash University, said the findings would change the way doctors managed the risk of heart attack and stroke in older people.

“It is really reassuring to see that you can continue to prescribe or initiate statins in the over 70s,” he said.

“You have to make sure the benefit outweighs the harm, and that’s what we have demonstrated here.”

Statins are already one of the most commonly prescribed medications in Australia, with between 2.2 to 2.6 million people taking them daily.

They block the production of cholesterol in the liver. This lowers the amount circulating in a person’s blood, which can reduce and reverse cholesterol deposits in the arteries.

Current Australian guidelines recommend statins for anyone with established heart disease. They are also prescribed as a preventative medicine for people aged 45 to 79 who are assessed as high risk using a cardiovascular disease risk calculator.

But Professor Derek Chew, chief scientist and medical officer at the National Heart Foundation of Australia, said there had previously been a lack of robust evidence supporting the use of statins for people over 75. This is because older people had been historically overlooked in clinical trials of statins.

He said this cohort were at increased risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke due to their age.

While the public often assumes a heart attack leads to sudden death, Chew noted that most patients survive, often developing chronic conditions such as heart failure. Preventive therapies such as statins kept older adults out of hospitals and living independently, he said.

“For many people over the age of 70, it is about living well, not just about living longer. It’s about not being in hospital, not being debilitated by cardiovascular events. My patients always talk about wanting to live well.”