Should older adults receive statins for the primary and secondary prevention of heart disease and stroke?
Before we approach the question of which HmG CoA reductase inhibitor or statin (these terms will be used interchangeably) to use in the elderly, it is reasonable to ask if statins should be used in the elderly at all. The early clinical trials of statins included patients who were predominantly male and middle aged. 2 Subgroup analyses, however, revealed that older patients with acute myocardial infarction benefitted as much or more than their younger counterparts.2 Maroo et al 2 nicely summarize the results of the major cholesterol trials as they relate to the elderly. Their report is further condensed in Tables 1 and 2 below.
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