Statin benefit for heart failure patients

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Statins reduce risk of death and hospitalizations for patients with heart failure.
The benefits of statins in lowering cholesterol and avoiding heart attacks are well proven by research. But there has been some indication that not all patients with heart failure will benefit from statins. Researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California now report on a new study that clarifies the issue of whether statins are useful in this context.

They looked at a group of over 24,000 adults with heart failure, of whom about half were initiated on statin therapy. They were followed up for around two and a half years, during which time 8,235 patients died. New statin use was linked to 24 per cent lower death rate compared to not taking a statin. Moreover, new statin use was linked to a 21 per cent lower risk of hospitalization. The findings suggest that patients with heart failure may have much to gain by being initiated on statin therapy - although the researchers want to see more clinical data to confirm this.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 1st November 2006 Volume 296 pages 2105-2111