Proving that statins save lives

Cholesterol was already suspected to cause blocked arteries when the BHF was founded in 1961. But although there was a large amount of evidence linking high cholesterol with a higher risk of having a heart attack, scientists didn’t have the evidence they needed to show that high cholesterol was a direct cause of coronary heart disease and heart attack.

To prove this, BHF Professor Michael Oliver at the University of Edinburgh led the first international studies to find out whether lowering cholesterol using a medicine called clofibrate could reduce deaths from heart disease and stroke. In a large clinical trial sponsored by the World Health Organization, Professor Oliver found conclusive evidence showing that cholesterol causes coronary artery diseases, confirming the life-saving potential of lowering blood cholesterol. That was back in 1978. But because of severe side effects, clofibrate was never used in patients.

Cholesterol-lowering statins became available in the late 1980s. Soon after, BHF Professor Stuart Cobbe and colleagues in Glasgow launched the WOSCOPS clinical trial looking at the effect they had on over 6,000 men who had high cholesterol, which put them at high risk of a heart attack. The study showed that over five years, statins cut their risk of heart attack and death from heart disease by a quarter. The men who took part in the trial have now been followed up for 20 years, and those who took the statin are still 25 per cent less likely to have had a heart attack or died from heart disease. The BHF/MRC Heart Protection Study of over 20,000 people led by BHF Professor Rory Collins then tested if statins reduced the risk of heart attack in people with existing coronary heart disease or diabetes. It ran for five years and the results, published in 2002, showed that those taking statins were about 25 per cent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke, or to die from heart disease, regardless of their cholesterol levels at the start of the trial.

Thanks to this world-leading BHF-funded research, statins are now routinely prescribed to patients who have had a heart attack or are at high risk of coronary heart disease and are estimated to save thousands of lives each year across the UK, and even more around the world.

First published 1st June 2021