Four of Every Five Older People Could Benefit from Statin Therapy

The Jupiter clinical trial has a title that explains what it’s all about - Justification for the Use of statins in primary Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin. (Rosuvastatin is the generic name for Crestor®, and primary prevention means preventing the first occurrence of a health event – in this case a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack.) The results were so clear-cut that an analysis has now been made of which people would actually benefit from a statin; it’s published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

The Jupiter study showed that the statin rosuvastatin reduced the likelihood of cardiovascular events in patients with raised blood high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels even when their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels were low (below 130 mg/dL). Trial data showed a 44% reduction in major cardiovascular events and lower all-cause mortality by 20% among participants taking rosuvastatin.

The new analysis shows that nearly 60% of men over 50 and women over 60 (33.5 million Americans) have LDL levels that would indicate the use of a statin drug; fewer than half of them are actually being treated. Based on the Jupiter trial results, there are an additional 19% of the US population (11 million people) who would be eligible for treatment because they have an LDL over 130 mg/dL or a hsCRP over 2 mg/L. This means that 80% of the population over 50 (men) or 60 (women) – i.e. 4 out of 5 older people – would benefit from taking a statin.

Small wonder that one physician suggested (some 4 years ago) that one day we’d have statins in the drinking water. At least 65% of managed care organizations have stated they will reimburse Crestor® patients who have a raised CRP, even if they don’t have raised cholesterol levels.