ABC World News (11/22, story 8, 0:30, Stephanopoulos) reported that research published in The Lancet suggests that statins' "benefits increase the longer someone takes them with no long-term risks such as cancer."
Reuters (11/23) reports that investigators looked at data from the Heart Protection Study (HPS), which included approximately 20,000 patients.
The Forbes (11/23) reports, "The main results of the HPS, published in 2002, showed a significant 23% reduction at 5.3 years in major vascular events associated with simvastatin treatment among the...patients with coronary disease enrolled in the trial." For the new research, "the HPS investigators report the followup results after a mean of 11 years."
HealthDay (11/23, Gordon) reports, "The 11-year study found that simvastatin (brand name Zocor) reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by almost one-quarter." The investigators also "found no increase in illness or deaths from cancer or other non-vascular causes."
MedPage Today (11/23, Fiore) reports, "In an accompanying editorial, Payal Kohli, MD, and Christopher Cannon, MD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital...said the results, 'provide contemporary and confirmatory evidence that extended use of statins is safe with respect to possible risk of cancer and non-vascular mortality.'" The editorialists "noted that the original concerns about statin safety were from observational data, which were likely 'heavily confounded.'" Also covering the story are the UK's Telegraph (11/23, Smith) and AFP (11/23).
POSTED BY: Steven Almany M.D.
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