Take heart from statins

05 March 2015 - 12:07 By KATHARINE CHILD
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A file photo shows an employee of the French company Carmat inspecting an artificial heart in Velizy, a Paris suburb.
A file photo shows an employee of the French company Carmat inspecting an artificial heart in Velizy, a Paris suburb.
Image: FRANCK FIFE / AFP

Should you take statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs touted as preventing heart attacks?

The latest study, the results of which were released yesterday in the European journal Diabetologia, shows that Finnish men taking two of the most popular statins, Atorvastatin and Simvastatin, increased their risk of developing diabetes by 46%.

But specialists disputed this figure, saying the risk of diabetes in people who took statins was low.

Their conclusion: people at risk of clogged arteries who have had a heart attack, or who have a hereditary disposition to high cholesterol, should take statins because the risk of a cardiac event far outweighs the risk of diabetes.

Professor Frederick Raal, of the Wits endocrinology and metabolic disease unit, said: "For the study 8749 non-diabetic overweight white men aged between 45 and 73 were monitored for six years in Finland.

"Only 625 of them, or only 7.1%, developed diabetes.

"So the prevalence of diabetes in those who did not receive statins was probably about 6%, versus about 9% in those who did, which is not a big difference in numbers but a big difference in percentage, 46%.

"Most of those who got diabetes probably would have done so without statins; they were predisposed to it," said Raal.

The study recruited overweight men with health problems.

South African sports scientist Tim Noakes has repeatedly denounced statins and cardiologists report that patients are stopping taking them.

But Raal said: "Anyone who has had a heart attack or stroke, all diabetics, all patients with inherited cholesterol problems, those with chronic kidney disease and everyone at high risk of [heart problems] will benefit tremendously from statin therapy.

"It is a travesty to tell patients who have suffered a heart attack or have had a coronary stent or stroke to stop their statin therapy because statin therapy has been shown to be of remarkable benefit in reducing further events and prolonging life."

While in agreement that high risk people need them, British cardiologist Aseem Malhotra said the latest study offered more evidence that people at low risk of a heart attack should not be given statins.

"Älthough statins reduce the risk of death in those with established heart disease by approximately 1%, this benefit does NOT exist in a low risk healthier population - in those with a less than 20% risk of developing heart disease over the next ten years.

"When you now add in the increased risk of developing a life altering condition in type 2 diabetes directly attributed to the drug, I personally wouldn't take it or recommend it to friend, who is otherwise healthy, but let them make up their own minds."

There is an answer for people wanting to decrease their risk of heart attacks or stay healthy.

Maholtra said: "Multiple studies show eating a handful of nuts or 4 tablespoons of olive oil may be a more effective way at reducing risk of a heart attack, stroke or death and without side effects in this group".

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