Statins reduce deaths due to heart failure

Long-term treatment with statins may reduce mortality in patients with congestive heart failure. Statins are a group of drugs that reduce blood cholesterol level, thereby helping to prevent heart disease, stroke and related diseases in people at high risk. In a recent study, Canadian researchers examined the relative effectiveness of different statins in elderly patients to determine whether statins exert a class effect on long-term survival in patients hospitalised with a primary diagnosis of CHF -- a chronic condition in which the heart fails to pump blood efficiently to the body's organs. It is believed that CHF can be caused by factors such as clogged arteries, heart attack and high blood pressure. Statins, as a class and at relatively low doses, appear to reduce death among elderly people with congestive heart failure. To test the efficacy of statins in reducing mortality in the elderly suffering from CHF, researchers identified 15,368 patients of CHF, 65 years of age or older who were prescribed a statin at discharge from the hospital and who filled the prescription. They found that atorvastatin, pravastatin, lovastatin, and simvastatin all afforded fairly similar protection. Drug dosages were relatively low, with 82 percent of patients receiving a dose of 20 milligrams or less. Doses above 10 milligrams for atorvastatin or above 40 milligrams for the other statins did not confer additional protection against death. The results showed that statins exert a class effect in patients with CHF, at relatively low dose. After taking care of other variables like current use and dosage, as well as for age, sex, coronary artery disease, and several other illnesses, treatment with pravastatin, lovastatin, or simvastatin had a similar effectiveness to prevent death compared to atorvastatin in this population with CHF. The duration of use of a statin was highly protective against death. Therefore, statins can reduce the number of deaths in the elderly suffering from heart failure.