Study questions relationship between statins and cardiovascular outcomes

The relationship between the amount that statins reduce low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels—sometimes referred to as bad cholesterol—and the risk of death, heart attack, and stroke is “weak or inconsistent,” a review has suggested.1

A team of researchers from Australia, Denmark, Ireland, and the US carried out a meta-analysis of 21 randomised clinical trials undertaken between 1987 and 2021 that examined the efficacy of statins for both primary and secondary prevention. The studies were all partially or wholly funded by the pharmaceutical industry.

They reported that their unadjusted analysis “showed only a weak or inconsistent association between …