Statin therapy in older adults may help prevent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

In US veterans over ≥75 years of age and without atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) at baseline, statin use was significantly associated with a lower risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, according to a study published in JAMA.

In this retrospective cohort study, Veterans Health Administration data on 326,981 veterans ≥75 years of age without ASCVD and with no prior statin use, were included. During the study period, 57,178 of participants initiated new statin use.

At the mean follow-up of 6.8 years, 53 296 patients had died cardiovascular deaths out of a total of 206 902 deaths. Among statin users there were 78.7 total deaths/1000 person-years and among 98.2 nonusers there were total deaths/1000 person-years.

There were 22.6 and 25.7 cardiovascular deaths per 1000 person-years among statin users and nonusers.

Reference

Orkaby AR, Driver JA, Ho Y, et al. Association of statin use with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in US veterans 75 years and older. JAMA. 2020;324(1):68–78. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.7848