Statins Save Fewer Lives Than Sensible Living

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Statins Save Fewer Lives Than Sensible Living


Statins save fewer lives than simple lifestyle changes like exercising and eating sensibly, scientists have found.
Researchers discovered that the wonder pills, taken by around seven million people in Britain, save around 750 lives a years by preventing fatal heart attacks and strokes.
But other health interventions aimed at lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, such as reductions in salt and fat consumption and upping activity levels prevent 4,600 deaths a year.
Under new guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) the majority of men aged over 60 and women over 65 are now offered drugs by their GPs, even if they only have a one in 10 chance of developing cardiovascular disease within a decade.
Nice experts claim that if everyone eligible took statins it would prevent 50,000 deaths a year, but the new research suggests the figure is far lower.
The new analysis showed that between 2000 and 2007 deaths from coronary heart disease fell by 38,000, of which 20,400 lives were saved as a direct result of reductions in blood pressure and total cholesterol.
The substantial fall in blood pressure accounted for well over half of the total, the calculations indicated, with around 13,000 deaths prevented or postponed.
But only a small proportion, 1800, of these were attributable to drug treatments, with the rest accounted for by changes in risk factors at the population level.
Falls in total cholesterol accounted for some 7400 deaths prevented or postponed, of which, 5300 or 14 per cent of the total, were attributable to statins.
The researchers said that preventative approaches are a better way to achieve results rather than handing out pills.

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