Statins can lower blood clot risk, study says
Heart
From MSNBC health: Statin drugs, taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, also can cut the risk of developing dangerous blood clots that can lodge in the legs or lungs, a major study suggests.
The results provide a new reason for many people with normal cholesterol to consider taking these medicines, sold as Crestor, Lipitor, Zocor and in generic form, doctors say.
In the study, Crestor cut in half the risk of blood clots in people with low cholesterol but high scores on a test for inflammation, which plays a role in many diseases. This same big study last fall showed that Crestor dramatically lowered rates of heart attacks, death and stroke in these people, who are not usually given statins now.
100,000 die a year of blood clots
For the study, researchers in the U.S. and two dozen other countries randomly assigned 17,802 people with high CRP and low levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol (below 130), to take dummy pills or Crestor, a statin made by British-based AstraZeneca PLC.
With an average of two years of followup, 34 of those on Crestor and 60 of the others developed venous thromboembolism — a blood clot in the leg that can travel to the lungs. Several hundred thousand Americans develop such clots each year, leading to about 100,000 deaths.
Many doctors remain reluctant to expand CRP testing or use of statins. A survey by the New England journal found them evenly divided on the questions. Others questioned why so few people in the study were getting other treatments to prevent heart problems.
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