Should Statins Be Used for Primary Prevention?

Statins are likely not effective for primary prevention in older adults without clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a recent study.

For his study, Marco D. Huesch, MBBS, PhD, evaluated data from the SPRINT trial on 3050 patients aged 70 years or older who had moderate hyperlipidemia and hypertension, but not clinical CVD, at baseline. Of these, 1350 (44.2%) were statin users at baseline.
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Results indicated that statin users had significantly lower Framingham risk scores and were more likely to be male vs non-users. However, they also had greater odds of having chronic kidney disease, higher body mass index, and higher glucose.

Ultimately, the researchers did not observe any significant difference in the rates of primary events between baseline statin users and non-users.

“Participants in the SPRINT trial 65 or 70 years or older without diagnosed CVD who were taking statins at baseline had no significant differences in primary outcomes compared with those not taking statins with or without adjustment for nonrandom statin use,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Huesch MD. Association of baseline statin use among older adults without clinical cardiovascular disease in the SPRINT trial [Published online January 22, 2018]. JAMA Intern Med. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.7844.