Statins halve risk of heart attack

TAKING statins cuts the risk of dying from a heart attack by up to half, researchers have found.

Experts have long urged people to take the cheap pills to prevent the development of heart problems, but a major study has now found that they also improved the chances of surviving any attack.

In the latest contribution to the debate about the pros and cons of using the cholesterol-busting drugs, researchers looked at 15 000 heart attack victims and patients with severe unstable angina.

As well as statins, their study found that other pills used to prevent heart attacks, including aspirin, beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors, were also linked to improved survival chances, saying the findings should help persuade more people to take the drugs.

An estimated six million people in the UK take statins to reduce their risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

But experts want another six million to take the pills, which cost less than R36 a month. Many GPs and patients, however, question the value of giving statins to healthy people at low risk of heart disease.

The debate has been fuelled by questions about side effects, with some experts claiming statins are completely safe, and others warning that the risk of muscle pain, tiredness, type 2 diabetes and blood clots in the brain have been ignored.

The researchers behind the study, from the University of Sydney and Peking University in Beijing, said the main aim of taking the drugs is to avoid having a heart attack.

But even if someone has an attack while taking the drugs, their survival chances will be boosted, they added.

The authors, who will present their findings at the Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology in China next month, tracked 14 790 patients hospitalised with acute coronary syndrome, which includes heart attacks and severe angina.

They then divided the patients into groups, according to whether they had taken certain heart drugs before the attack – statins, beta-blockers, antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin, or ACE inhibitors which reduce blood pressure.

Each drug also helped cut the risk of developing other heart conditions, such as arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat.

The researchers found that patients who had taken statins were 48 percent less likely to die, compared to people who had not taken statins. They were also 9 percent less likely to suffer a repeat heart attack.