Statin News and Research

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Statins are drugs used to lower cholesterol. Your body needs some cholesterol to work properly. But if you have too much in your blood, it can stick to the walls of your arteries, narrowing or even blocking them.

Study finds women more likely to know high school weight than cholesterol numbers

Adult women are more than twice as likely to know how much they weighed in high school as they are to know their current cholesterol number, and only half of women have had their cholesterol tested in the past year, according to the results of a nationwide survey released today.

21 Aug 2007

Caution urged on use of drugs to raise "good" cholesterol

With 40 percent of all heart attacks and related cardiovascular problems occurring in people who have low levels of so-called "good" cholesterol, researchers have long sought medications to increase the amount of this type of cholesterol in the body's circulation.

16 Aug 2007

Scientists take plumber's approach to Alzheimer's

Scientists are trying a plumber's approach to rid the brain of the amyloid buildup that plagues Alzheimer's patients: Simply drain the toxic protein away.

13 Aug 2007

More sophisticated model is needed to assess preventive treatment in the elderly

Rather than prolonging life, preventive treatments in elderly people may simply change the cause of death, the manner of our dying, say doctors in this week's British Medical Journal.

11 Aug 2007

Statins do not protect against prostate cancer

A large community-based study refutes previous findings that statins , a top-selling drug class, worldwide -- might cut one's risk of developing prostate cancer by reducing production of the male hormones that fuel cancer growth.

11 Aug 2007

New player in the control of HDL cholesterol

Researchers have identified a new player in the control of so-called "good" cholesterol that circulates in the bloodstream and reduces heart attack risk, according to a report in the August issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press.

8 Aug 2007

Statin drugs may delay progressive artery damage in children

Starting statin therapy as young as age 8 safely and effectively delays the early artery damage caused by familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), according to a Dutch study reported in the Aug.7th print issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

7 Aug 2007

Statins don't offset healthy choices

Within the medical field, it is often assumed that patients view cholesterol-lowering medications (or statins) as a license to eat whatever they like -- they figure their medication has them covered, so a steak here and there won't hurt.

2 Aug 2007

Polypill cure-for-all could become a killer

Doctors in Britain are warning that offering all men over 50 and all women over 60 a pill to protect them against heart disease and stroke, will only serve to encourage an unhealthy lifestyle.

30 Jul 2007

The future of Alzheimer's disease research

Imagine the day when a routine visit to the family doctor includes a simple blood test to predict the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD).

26 Jul 2007

Link between low cholesterol levels and cancer

Millions of Americans take statins to lower their cholesterol, but how low should you go?

24 Jul 2007

Initiative to improve heart failure care at nation's hospitals makes major gains

A national initiative designed to improve heart-failure patient care in hospitals proved effective at increasing hospital adherence to key quality-of-care performance measures and reducing the length of hospital stays for patients.

24 Jul 2007

Breast cancer drug works better on a full stomach

Experts in the United States say that eating the right food with certain medications could improve the effectiveness of drugs and also reduce the cost of treating patients.

17 Jul 2007

Drug-drug or drug-food interactions may offer opportunities to lower costs

Exploiting interactions between food and drugs could dramatically lower the rapidly rising costs of several anticancer drugs, and perhaps many other medications, two cancer-pharmacology specialists suggest in a commentary in the July 16, 2007, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

17 Jul 2007

Many doctors not frustrated that patients can't lower cholesterol, despite cardiovascular risks

Family doctors don’t always feel that they can achieve healthy cholesterol levels in their patients even though they are aware of the dangers of cardiovascular disease, according to an international survey of practitioners published in the July issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

17 Jul 2007

Electronic health records not associated with improved quality of outpatient health care

Electronic health records have been hailed as a key element in making U.S. medical care more effective and efficient, but a new study led by a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine shows that electronic records were not associated with improved quality of outpatient health care in 2003 and 2004.

10 Jul 2007