Statin drugs lower heart attack risks
Tens of thousands of people suffer needless heart attacks and strokes every year because they aren’t taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, a new study says.
More than 39,000 deaths, nearly 100,000 non-fatal heart attacks and up to 65,000 strokes in the U.S. could be prevented if people eligible for statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs were taking them, researchers reported June 30 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Nearly half of Americans (47%) who’ve never had a heart attack or stroke are eligible to take statins under U.S. guidelines, researchers found.
But fewer than a quarter (23%) of them have been prescribed the life-saving drugs, results show.
A substantial number of heart attack or stroke survivors also aren’t taking the drugs, even though all are eligible for them under U.S. guidelines, researchers said.
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My doctors have me on about a half adozen different meds some of which are statin. I am a diyalisis patient so I also get weekly blood tests. While I feel pretty good now, I was hospitalized for about a week before I got on my current meds.
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