More intensive cholesterol treatment reduces heart risk further

More intensive treatment using statin drugs to lower levels of bad cholesterol leads to even greater reductions in the risk of a heart attack or stroke than with regular statin doses. That's the conclusion of two Oxford University-led studies published in the medical journal  The Lancet  today. The reduction in risk is proportional to the reduction achieved in bad cholesterol levels, even in patients with already low levels. This suggests that a wide range of people at risk of heart disease may benefit from using statins to reduce their bad cholesterol levels further, whatever their starting point. The first study, jointly coordinated by the Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) at the University of Oxford and the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre at the University of Sydney, brought together data from some 170,000 people from 26 randomised trials in a new analysis. The researchers found that using more intensive statin treatment produced a highly significant 15% further reduction in major vascular events over standard statin doses. 'Using aggressive statin treatment to lower levels of bad cholesterol further than would be achieved using standard doses produces even greater reductions in the incidence of heart attacks or strokes,' says Professor Colin Baigent of CTSU, who led this study.