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 People who took statins or fibrates, another type of
cholesterol-lowering medicine, were 34 percent less likely to have a
stroke than those who didn't, researchers report.
"If confirmed, these results are compatible with the view of keeping
elderly individuals on lipid-lowering drugs for longer periods of
time," senior study author Christophe Tzourio, an epidemiology
professor at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research
and the University of Bordeaux in France, said by email.
Millions of people worldwide take statins to help reduce their blood
levels of low-density lipoprotein, known as bad cholesterol because
it builds up in blood vessels and can lead to atherosclerosis, clots
and heart attacks.
Unless patients have damaged arteries, many doctors recommend
against statin use for people over 75 because the benefits are less
clear for the elderly and the pills have been linked to side effects
including diabetes, cognitive impairment, and liver injury.
Because statins are still widely used among the older patients,
Tzourio and colleagues set out to see if they could shed light on
the potential benefits of treatment later in life.
They analyzed data from interviews with 7,500 elderly residents of
three French cities starting in 1999. At the start of the study,
participants were at least 65 years old, with an average age of 74.
They had no history of vascular disease or stroke.
About 27 percent of the people in the study took either statins or
fibrates to lower cholesterol. These participants were more likely
to be female, younger and less educated.
During an average follow up of about nine years, 292 people had a
stroke and 440 experienced other cardiovascular events. Strokes were
more common among men and participants who were older or had other
risk factors such as diabetes, obesity or high blood pressure.
Taking cholesterol pills didn't lower the risk of vascular events or
heart disease, but it did lower the odds of a stroke and death from
all causes.
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The study doesn't prove the pills prevent strokes, the researchers
acknowledge in the British Medical Journal. Participants in the
study were richer, better educated and followed healthier diets than
the typical French person, the authors note.
It's possible that factors other than the drugs helped lower the
risk of strokes, said Dr. Francine Welty, a cardiologist at Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston
who wasn't involved in the study.
While the current study focused on healthier elderly people who had
no prior strokes, it's possible that the findings might be similar
for people who've already had at least one stroke, Welty said in an
email. Previous research in younger adults has shown statins may
prevent a repeat stroke, she said.
"I would expect a similar reduction in older adults because their
risk for recurrent stroke may be even higher," said Welty. "However,
until a randomized trial is done in older adults, we don't know for
sure."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Ad9rSe BMJ, online May 18, 2015.
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