Post-Attack Statin Treatment Good for Heart

Japanese researchers have found that long-term mortality can be reduced and further heart events prevented in patients hospitalised with a heart attack by giving them a statin drug soon after the heart attack occurs.

Statins are medicines used to lower cholesterol levels in people who are at risk of a cardiovascular event. High levels of cholesterol lead to formation of plaques within the arteries which ultimately get blocked and increase the load on the heart.

Statins can slow down the production of plaques and occasionally reduce the size of existing plaques, thereby reducing the overall risk to the heart. Several studies have been conducted till date on the effects on statins on overall heart health.

Published in the American Journal of Cardiology, the results were arrived at after a study of 702 patients compared with 702 matched controls. All patients had been admitted to a hospital with a heart attack and placed on statin therapy upon discharge.

Dr. Michitaka Nagashima from The Heart Institute of Japan in Tokyo and colleagues followed the patients for a period of four years on average. During this period, they found that treatment with a statin soon after a heart attack brought down the risk of death by 36%. The lower death rate was largely on account of a drop in cardiovascular-related deaths.

The researchers observed that statin therapy also lowered the risk of the patients suffering a second heart attack and heart failure. Maximum benefits of statin therapy were observed in male patients, those over 60 years of age and those with high levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol (levels of 155mg/dL or higher).

“The aim of the present study was to clarify whether standard statin therapy initiated immediately after acute MI (heart attack) decreases long-term mortality and occurrence of cardiac events in a contemporary, real-world setting,” lead author Dr. Nagashima, said.

“Previous reports have suggested that early statin treatment is beneficial in stabilizing vulnerable plaque after acute coronary events,” the authors wrote. “Our results are consistent with those of other studies for a 1-year period.”

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