June 25, 2012
Benefit of statins to female heart patients
Statins may be less effective at lowering stroke risk for
women than for men, a study has claimed.
Researchers analysed 11 clinical
trials in order to find differences in the effectiveness of
statins between men and women.
Overall, the study recommended the
use of statins as secondary prevention for both
genders. However, they found that women’s risk of stroke was not significantly reduced by
statins.
Statins work to prevent heart patients from developing further heart problems, whatever their gender
Professor Jeremy
Pearson, our Associate Medical Director, said: “This study is
limited because it only looked at a
small number
of women who had strokes. Women made up just a fifth of the sample
size, which stops us from drawing real conclusions.
“Heart disease is the single most
common cause of death for women in the UK and more women
need to be involved in clinical trials so that we can see
if these differences ring true.
“What we do know is that statins
work to prevent heart patients from developing further heart
problems, whatever their gender. It’s important that you
keep taking your statins as prescribed and make
sure you speak to your GP if you have questions about your
medication.”
This study was published in the
Archives of Internal Medicine.