Trial stopped early after rosuvastatin found to cut the risk of heart attack and stroke by 44% in healthy people

Statins reduce the risk of cardiovascular events by 44% in people who do not have high cholesterol but have raised high sensitivity C reactive protein, a study has shown (New England Journal of Medicine 2008;359:195-207, doi:10.1056/NEJMoa0807646).

Results from the JUPITER trial (Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention Intervention) also show that rosuvastatin reduced heart attacks alone by 54% in the same group of people. The combined primary end point was myocardial infarction, stroke, arterial revascularisation, hospitalisation for unstable angina, or death from cardiovascular causes.

The manufacturer of rosuvastatin, AstraZeneca, described the 44% drop in cardiovascular events as the greatest relative risk reduction seen in a large placebo controlled study of statins, but there were warnings about the implications.

John Abramson, author of Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine and a clinical …