PEOPLE at low risk of a heart attack could still benefit from taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, researchers say. Half of all heart attacks occur in patients with a low cardiovascular risk, and a large study has shown the risk of these events is reduced when patients take drugs to lower cholesterol, University of Sydney researchers say. The researchers, from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) at the university, have questioned whether Australian guidelines should be changed to allow more people access to cholesterol-lowering drugs. NHMRC deputy director Anthony Keech and research fellow Jordan Fulcher said the safest option to lower bad cholesterol levels was to eat well, exercise and lose weight if necessary. But there was also a role for cholesterol drugs, they wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday. However, expanding the use of the drugs to low-risk people could come at a significant cost. The two main cholesterol drugs were in the top three most dispensed Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medications in the 2010/11 financial year, the article said. Drugs targeting cholesterol were the most costly class of medication in the PBS. But the authors said there was now evidence that cholesterol-lowering drugs could help … Continue reading →

Researchers have questioned whether Australian guidelines should be changed to allow more people access to cholesterol-lowering drugs. Source: The Courier-Mail HALF of all heart attacks occur in patients with a low cardiovascular risk, and a study has shown the risk of these events is reduced when patients take drugs to lower cholesterol. Researchers from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) at the University of Sydney, have questioned whether Australian guidelines should be changed to allow more people access to cholesterol-lowering drugs. NHMRC deputy director Anthony Keech and research fellow Jordan Fulcher said the safest option to lower bad cholesterol levels was to eat well, exercise and lose weight if necessary. But there was also a role for cholesterol drugs, they wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday. However, expanding the use of the drugs to low-risk people could come at a significant cost. The two main cholesterol drugs were in the top three most dispensed Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medications in the 2010/11 financial year, the article said. Drugs targeting cholesterol were the most costly class of medication in the PBS. But the authors said there was now evidence that cholesterol-lowering drugs could help treat people … Continue reading →

DRUGS to lower cholesterol should be prescribed far more widely because they significantly cut the rate of heart attacks and strokes even in low-risk patients, researchers say. In an analysis of 27 studies, University of Sydney researchers found the risk of cardiovascular deaths was reduced by 15 per cent in low-risk patients who took the drugs, called statins, compared with those who did not. The patients were considered to have a less than a 10 per cent risk of having a heart attack or stroke within five years, and are not recommended for statin treatment under current guidelines. But the researchers, from the National Health and Medical Research Council clinical trials centre, said the reduction in cardiovascular deaths achieved in the low-risk group was similar to that for high-risk patients. The findings prompted them to call for a review of clinical guidelines so that low-risk patients were prescribed statins where lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise failed to lower their cholesterol. Advertisement Study co-author Professor Anthony Keech said statins could benefit about a third of men aged over 50 and women over 60 who were at low risk of cardiovascular disease. Current guidelines recommend diet and exercise changes for … Continue reading →