Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 12:14 pm
The study of 950 men and women found that statins may only help patients if they have a calcium build-up — calcification — in their blood vessels. Calcium makes arteries harden and increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.
Scientists believe calcification is primarily caused by a combination of genes and ageing, along with poor lifestyle such as lack of exercise, bad diet and smoking. It’s not clear why these cause a build-up of the mineral — though calcium in the diet is not to blame.
The researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, found that in the group of 950 healthy people, half had calcium build-up; they suffered 95 per cent of all the heart attacks, strokes or heart-related deaths seen in the five-year study.
The other half of the group did not have any calcium build-up and, tellingly, they suffered only 5 per cent of the heart problems that occurred. If calcium, not cholesterol, is the real issue, this might explain why 75 per cent of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.
But the more immediate message, says Dr Michael Blaha, who led the study, is that patients with no calcium build-up would be very unlikely to get any benefit from swallowing preventative statins. ‘Our results tell us that only those with calcium build-up in their arteries have a clear benefit from statin therapy,’ he told a conference of the American Heart Association earlier this month.
He says instead of handing out statins to increasing numbers of patients, doctors should first measure patients’ coronary artery calcium deposits using a CT scanner (a kind of X-ray machine) and give the drugs only to those with high levels.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z18scw6FF4
Scientists believe calcification is primarily caused by a combination of genes and ageing, along with poor lifestyle such as lack of exercise, bad diet and smoking. It’s not clear why these cause a build-up of the mineral — though calcium in the diet is not to blame.
The researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, found that in the group of 950 healthy people, half had calcium build-up; they suffered 95 per cent of all the heart attacks, strokes or heart-related deaths seen in the five-year study.
The other half of the group did not have any calcium build-up and, tellingly, they suffered only 5 per cent of the heart problems that occurred. If calcium, not cholesterol, is the real issue, this might explain why 75 per cent of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.
But the more immediate message, says Dr Michael Blaha, who led the study, is that patients with no calcium build-up would be very unlikely to get any benefit from swallowing preventative statins. ‘Our results tell us that only those with calcium build-up in their arteries have a clear benefit from statin therapy,’ he told a conference of the American Heart Association earlier this month.
He says instead of handing out statins to increasing numbers of patients, doctors should first measure patients’ coronary artery calcium deposits using a CT scanner (a kind of X-ray machine) and give the drugs only to those with high levels.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z18scw6FF4