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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.

Sex-specific biological clocks reveal how aging differs across the body in women and men

Researchers developed 38 sex-specific biological aging clocks across 15 organ systems, finding differences between females and males in genetic architecture, molecular signatures, disease associations, and mortality patterns. Brain aging clocks were linked to progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease in both sexes and to sex-dependent cognitive trajectories among solanezumab-treated A4 participants, while the authors stressed that sex-pooled and sex-interaction models remain complementary approaches.

17 Sep 2026

CAC-based statin initiation shows no difference in major cardiovascular events

There was no difference in major cardiovascular events when statin initiation was based on coronary artery calcium compared with traditional risk factor assessment, according to results presented in a Hot Line session today at ESC Congress 2026.

31 Aug 2026

Routine referral of prostate cancer patients to a cardiovascular specialist fails to cut cardiac events

Men with prostate cancer have a high risk of heart disease, especially when treated with hormone therapy.

31 Aug 2026

Starting statins early after diabetes diagnosis linked to lower dementia risk

Early initiation of statins after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes was associated with a lower risk of dementia, according to a study presented today at ESC Congress 2026 and published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

30 Aug 2026

Atorvastatin reduces major cardiovascular events but misses disability-free survival goal

Atorvastatin reduced major cardiovascular events by 30% in older people without known cardiovascular disease, diabetes or dementia, but did not significantly improve disability-free survival, according to results presented in a Hot Line session today at ESC Congress 2026 and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.

29 Aug 2026

Immediate evolocumab use after heart attack improves cholesterol goals but not survival

Immediate initiation of evolocumab after a heart attack significantly improved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goal achievement, but an early reduction in all-cause death or unplanned cardiovascular hospitalization was not observed compared with standard care.

29 Aug 2026

First joint guidelines address cardiovascular events and chronic kidney disease

The first-ever European Society of Cardiology Guidelines on the management of cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease have been developed in collaboration with the European Renal Association.

28 Aug 2026

Coronary artery calcium scan may be most valuable for a specific group of patients

It's an increasingly popular scan that measures calcium in the heart's arteries and helps predict risk of future heart disease.

26 Aug 2026

Semaglutide’s heart benefits may partly involve reduced inflammation

A prespecified analysis of 17,604 SELECT participants found that higher baseline hsCRP was associated with greater risks of major cardiovascular events and death in people with overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease. Semaglutide produced rapid and sustained reductions in hsCRP, with changes emerging before substantial weight loss, although the study could not establish whether reduced inflammation directly mediated its cardiovascular benefits.

24 Aug 2026

Tirzepatide lowers heart attack and cardiovascular event risk in adults with type 2 diabetes

In a US cohort of 52,971 adults with type 2 diabetes and established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, tirzepatide initiation was associated with a lower one-year risk of major adverse cardiovascular events than sitagliptin. The benefit was driven mainly by lower myocardial infarction and all-cause mortality hazards, although the authors cautioned that mortality findings may be influenced by residual confounding.

10 Aug 2026

Updated ABCs framework gives clinicians a clearer path to prevent heart disease

A 2026 State-of-the-Art review updates the ABCs of cardiovascular disease prevention to help clinicians apply contemporary risk assessment, lifestyle, pharmacologic, and cardiometabolic strategies in routine care. The framework emphasizes PREVENT™ risk equations, Life’s Essential 8, CKM syndrome, obesity care, lipid lowering, blood pressure control, healthy aging, heart failure prevention, and atrial fibrillation management.

7 Jul 2026

McMaster researchers uncover why statins cause painful muscle side effects

Millions of people rely on statins - a medication used to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

6 Jul 2026

Some statins may increase erectile dysfunction risk

Research indicates that certain statins, particularly atorvastatin and simvastatin, may elevate the risk of erectile dysfunction, impacting men's health.

6 Jul 2026

Blood pressure and cholesterol gaps shrink among older adults with obesity

Over the last three decades, differences in unhealthy cholesterol levels and blood pressure between older adults with obesity and those with a normal Body Mass Index (BMI) have narrowed or disappeared in several high-income countries, suggests a study published in The Lancet.

1 Jul 2026

Blood metabolism maps how lifestyle tracks function in cognitive aging

A new study used pathway-level blood metabolomics to identify lifestyle-associated metabolic patterns linked to physical, cognitive, and daily functional performance across CN, MCI, and AD. The findings suggest that diet- and activity-linked pathway signals span energy, amino acid, lipid, inflammatory, oxidative stress, and microbiome-related metabolism, but require independent and longitudinal validation.

29 Jun 2026

New calculator predicts statin-related muscle disorder risk

Researchers at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, have developed a new calculator that estimates a person's risk of developing serious muscle disorders from statins.

25 Jun 2026

Statins may trigger muscle side effects by activating inflammatory danger signals

An experimental study in Science Advances shows that statins, primarily fluvastatin in these experiments, may promote low-level muscle myopathy by reducing isoprenoid-dependent protein prenylation rather than by cholesterol lowering. In primed muscle cells and mouse models, impaired YAP signaling, reduced glycolysis, NLRP3/caspase-1 activation, and nuclear FOXO accumulation increased atrogin-1, reduced protein synthesis, and weakened muscle function.

22 Jun 2026

Intravenous statins during heart attack reduce cardiac muscle damage

Reducing the damage sustained by the heart during a myocardial infarction remains one of the major challenges in cardiology, even when the blocked coronary artery is reopened in a timely manner.

11 Jun 2026

Statins may help prevent frailty in older adults

Researchers at Mass General Brigham have demonstrated that older U.S. veterans who initiated statin therapy were significantly less likely to develop frailty over time, suggesting that the cholesterol-lowering medications may have healthy aging benefits beyond cardiovascular disease prevention. Results are published in the European Heart Journal.

9 Jun 2026

Blood protein signature can predict lung cancer risk before diagnosis

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London (UCL), funded by Cancer Research UK and the European Research Council (ERC), have identified a 14-protein signature in the blood that can predict lung cancer risk more than five years before diagnosis.

4 Jun 2026