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: Benefit-to-harm balance of statins for primary prevention of heart disease is favorable

Statins are associated with a small increased risk of side effects in patients without a history of heart disease, but these effects are mild compared with the potential benefits of treatment in preventing major cardiovascular events, say researchers in The BMJ today.

14 Jul 2021

Statin use among heart failure patients can reduce cancer risk

Statin use among patients with heart failure is associated with a 16% lower risk of developing cancer compared with non-statin users during an average of four years of follow-up, according to new research published today (Wednesday) in the European Heart Journal.

23 Jun 2021

Statins associated with reduced COVID-19 mortality and decreased need for ventilator support

Statins are medications widely used in the management of cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome. Statins help lower serum lipids by blocking HMG-CoA reductase (3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase), the rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis.

11 Jun 2021

Researchers aim to better understand clinical features associated with COVID-19 mortality

To better understand the COVID-19 clinical feaures associated with mortality, an interdisciplinary team of researchers has investigated important factors and their influence on a patient’s death.

22 Apr 2021

Statins improve 28-day mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Now, researchers at Harvard Medical School showed that statin use reduced 28-day mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Both the new initiation of statins and continuing statin therapy reduced the risk of mortality.

8 Apr 2021

The hype has faded, but don’t count out convalescent plasma in Covid battle

Six months after it was controversially hailed by Trump administration officials as a "breakthrough" therapy to fight the worst effects of Covid-19, convalescent plasma appears to be on the ropes.

22 Mar 2021

Triglyceride-lowering medication may lower stroke risk in people with heart disease

Taking the triglyceride-lowering medication icosapent ethyl cut the risk of stroke by an additional 36% in people at increased risk of cardiovascular disease who already have their bad cholesterol levels under control using statin medications, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2021.

11 Mar 2021

Study finds high rate of cardiovascular risk factors among U.S. Hispanic/Latino population

The rate of cardiovascular risk factors among Hispanic/Latino people living in the U.S. is very high, and while they are often aware of their health conditions, less than half of the Hispanic/Latino adults with history of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) had healthy blood pressure and cholesterol, and about half had healthy blood sugar levels.

4 Mar 2021

Study: Inaccurate information is a barrier to good health care, education

While many people believe misinformation on Facebook and Twitter from time to time, people with lower education or health literacy levels, a tendency to use alternative medicine, or distrust of the health care system are more likely to believe inaccurate medical postings than others, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

1 Mar 2021

Statin use associated with reduction in mortality of patients with severe COVID-19

People who took statins to lower cholesterol were approximately 50% less likely to die if hospitalized for COVID-19, a study by physicians at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian has found.

26 Feb 2021

Study examines postoperative outcomes of coronary revascularization in people with and without Alzheimer’s

The risk of both mortality and rehospitalisation after an elective revascularisation procedure for coronary artery disease is similar for people with and without Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but people with AD had worse outcomes after an emergency procedure, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland.

18 Feb 2021

Study: Alzheimer's patients have worse outcomes after elective revascularization procedure

The risk of both mortality and rehospitalization after an elective revascularization procedure for coronary artery disease is similar for people with and without Alzheimer's disease (AD), but people with AD had worse outcomes after an emergency procedure, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland.

17 Feb 2021

Statins shown to reduce COVID-19 severity and lower mortality

Much attention has been focused on ways to reduce the deadly exaggeration of normal inflammatory reactions to this pathogen. A new research paper posted to the medRxiv* preprint server describes the alleviation of hyper-inflammatory phenomena following the administration of statins, drugs more widely known for their use in reducing blood cholesterol levels, to patients with COVID-19.

11 Feb 2021

New combination treatment approach improves overall survival in mice with glioblastoma

In a study of mice, researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a new approach that combines an anti-psychotic drug, a statin used to lower high cholesterol levels, and radiation to improve the overall survival in mice with glioblastoma.

9 Feb 2021

Novel deep learning system can predict cardiovascular risk from CT scans

Coronary artery calcification -- the buildup of calcified plaque in the walls of the heart's arteries -- is an important predictor of adverse cardiovascular events like heart attacks.

29 Jan 2021

Blood group associated with cardiovascular events in COVID-19 patients

An illuminating new study by scientists at Harvard Medical School, USA, describes the correlation of such conditions with the ABO blood group. The team's findings may help assess the risk of COVID-19 patients for such complications, promoting early diagnosis and underscoring potential needs for preventive and therapeutic care where possible.

21 Jan 2021

Mediterranean diet has the potential to effect progression of prostate cancer

In a study to examine a Mediterranean diet in relation to prostate cancer progression in men on active surveillance, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that men with localized prostate cancer who reported a baseline dietary pattern that more closely follows the key principles of a Mediterranean-style diet fared better over the course of their disease.

7 Jan 2021

Cholesterol-lowering drugs may protect women's hearts from damage caused during chemotherapy

Statins, common cholesterol-lowering medications, may protect women's hearts from damage caused during chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association.

6 Jan 2021

Statins may protect the heart from damaging side-effects of early breast cancer treatment

New research from UHN's Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) shows statins, commonly prescribed to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, may also protect the heart from damaging side-effects of early breast cancer treatment.