Quantifying the Benefits of Statins over the Long Term

Statins work to reduce cardiovascular disease risk by reducing blood lipid levels. In the research here, the authors quantify the benefits that have been obtained through the use of this class of drug over the past few decades. This class of drug is broadly considered to be one of the more important contributions to the reduced rate of cardiovascular mortality over that span of time. The data here suggests that statins should be even more widely used than they are at present: there are incrementally greater gains that might be obtained. The mechanism of cardiovascular damage influenced by statins is one in which lipids oxidized due to other mechanisms of aging drive the pace at which atherosclerosis progresses. Lowering overall lipid levels in the bloodstream also lowers the level of these problem damaged molecules, and so atherosclerosis is slowed. The logical step beyond this in order to produce much better classes of therapy, treatments capable of reversing this condition, is to remove the damaged lipids and their byproducts rather than just slow their impact. The SENS Research Foundation, for example, ran a program to uncover bacterial enzymes that might be modified to accomplish this task for 7-ketocholesterol. For now, however, the only available approaches involve improved ways to lower blood lipids, such as PCSK9 inhibitors. These should be better than statins, but still not as good as repairing the situation by specifically clearing damaged lipids. Pr...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs