More older adults 'may benefit from taking statins,' study reports

Conclusion The study was an interesting analysis of how many more people in England could be eligible to receive statins than those currently receiving them. It didn't make any recommendations about acting on these findings. The study was also unable to follow people over time to see whether statins might have made a difference. And the study did have some limitations: Because it only looked at people at one point in time, we don't know whether the people who were considered at risk of CVD actually went on to develop it. The researchers were only able to use one year of data from HSE, as this was the only year that had the information they needed about people's history of CVD. Using more data may have detected trends, as CVD risk has changed in the population over time. The study assumed that people in the HSE population were representative of the general English population when estimating how many adults could be offered statins. Although the HSE study is designed to try to be representative, there may be situations the survey population doesn't match the general population for a specific risk factor or condition. It's best to talk to your GP if you think you'd benefit from taking statins or you're already taking them but have questions. If you can't take statins or don't want to take them, other ways you can lower your cholesterol include stopping smoking, being more active, drinking less alcohol, eating more healthily, and achieving or maintaining a heal...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Source Type: news