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Study: Drug Underprescribed Cholesterol-Lowering Statins Not Getting to at-Risk Heart Disease Patients

Posted on: Tuesday, 31 May 2005, 18:00 CDT

SAN FRANCISCO - Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins that can help prevent heart disease are still underprescribed for many at- risk patients, according to a new study.

Research by the Stanford School of Medicine concludes that doctors should aggressively examine patients with a moderate to high risk of heart disease to see if such drugs are appropriate.

The study was released Monday in the online journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

"Only 50 percent of high-risk patients who visit doctors receive statins," said study author Dr. Jun Ma, a research associate at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. "People may die prematurely because of inadequate treatment. And people who should receive these drugs but don't are put at greater risk of heart disease."

Statins - along with blood-pressure medicines - are critical because they reduce risk factors that cause heart disease. Statins cut cholesterol production in the liver and boost the organ's ability to remove a "bad" cholesterol known as LDL.

Dr. Randall Stafford, associate professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and senior author of the study, said risk-lowering lifestyle changes are still overlooked.

"The problem is that we have not been effective at turning this evidence into practice," he said.

The study is apparently the first to examine how statin therapy varies according to the risk of heart disease among U.S. outpatients.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

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