January 10, 2012 |
Older women who take statin medications to ward off heart attacks are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who do not take the widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs, a study has found. The report, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, showed that, in a large group of post-menopausal women, those who took a statin of any type were, on average, 48% likelier to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who didn't. The heightened risk for diabetes was most pronounced in statin-taking women of Asian origin or those with a body mass index, or BMI, in the healthy range.
January 8, 2007 |
Lipitor, Zocor and similar cholesterol lowering drugs failed to prevent colon cancer in a study, dimming hope the pills taken by millions of Americans could thwart one of the nation's leading killers. Laboratory and animal research has suggested in the past that the drugs, called statins, may have anti-cancer properties, blocking compounds the damaged cells need to grow and spread. Studies in people, though, have yielded mixed results.
April 16, 2007 |
People who use statin drugs are less likely to die of influenza and chronic bronchitis, according to research that shows yet another unexpected benefit of the cholesterol-lowering medications. The study of more than 76,000 people showed that those who had taken statins for at least 90 days had a much lower risk of dying from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, the technical name for emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
September 24, 2004 |
A consumer group and 35 doctors and scientists asked the National Institutes of Health to oversee an independent review of the science that led to new guidelines urging wider use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the doctors and scientists said in a letter to NIH that there wasn't enough evidence to justify the recommendations, especially for women, older people and diabetics.
March 30, 2009 |
Statin drugs, taken to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, also can cut the risk of developing dangerous blood clots that can lodge in the legs or lungs, a major study suggests. The results provide a new reason to consider taking these medicines, sold as Crestor, Lipitor, Zocor and in generic form, doctors say. In the study, Crestor cut nearly in half the risk of blood clots in people with low cholesterol but who tested high for inflammation. The same study last fall showed that Crestor dramatically reduced heart attacks, strokes and risk of death in these people.
October 15, 2005 |
Cholesterol levels in older Americans have fallen markedly over the last 40 years, but the decline is due primarily to increased use of statin drugs rather than to healthier lifestyles, government researchers reported this week. Statins, which include such widely used medicines as Lipitor, Zocor and Pravachol, can dramatically reduce levels of cholesterol that can clog arteries and lead to heart attacks.
August 25, 2003 |
Patients who need help reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke now have one more cholesterol-lowering drug from which to choose. Like other statins, Crestor (rosuvastatin) partially blocks the production of cholesterol in the liver. It lowers total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol, while increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good" cholesterol. It also reduces triglycerides, another blood fat associated with the buildup of plaque in the arteries.
June 21, 2006 |
Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can reduce the incidence of the most common type of cataract by 45%, according to a five-year study of nearly 1,300 people. The findings surprised researchers because several potential cholesterol-lowering drugs never made it to market after studies showed they caused cloudiness and other eye problems. The current study, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
June 13, 2003 |
Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins can reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes among diabetics by a quarter to a third, even in patients who do not have high cholesterol levels, according to a major new British study. Giving the drugs to the 17 million Americans with diabetes could prevent as many as 170,000 heart attacks and strokes each year, researchers said. Worldwide, the drugs could prevent more than 1 million such events each year, they added.
January 11, 2005
Studies See New Way to Reduce Heart Risk," Jan. 6: Well, it seems we have a new wonder drug -- the statins. According to the Jan. 6 story, "Studies See New Way to Reduce Heart Risk," two recent medical journal articles found that statins are a "perfect marriage" between a drug and a disease. We are on the verge of a major breakthrough in heart disease. Lives will be saved as the use of these already prevalent drugs skyrocket. I sincerely hope the authors of these articles are correct.