Cholesterol reduction urged
for heart disease patients

March 26, 1996
Web posted at: 10:55 p.m.

From Correspondent Andrew Holtz

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Millions of heart disease patients should be taking drugs to lower their cholesterol levels, even when it is nearly normal, according to research presented Tuesday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando. It adds millions of people with heart disease to the ranks of those who should be offered cholesterol-lowering drugs.
(News conference highlights from the ACC - 79K Adobe Acrobat .pdf file)

Doctors have been telling patients to lower their cholesterol for years, even prescribing drugs if the levels remained high.

"Most people who have heart disease have average cholesterol levels and now we have evidence that lowering the levels from average to below-average reduces heart attacks," said Dr. Frank Sacks with Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The Cholesterol and Recurrent Events (CARE) trial recently looked at 4,000 heart attack survivors with an average cholesterol level of just 209, close to the norm.

The patients taking a drug called Pravastatin were 24 percent less likely to either die from heart disease or have a second heart attack. They were also 27 percent less likely to need follow-up treatment such as heart bypass surgery, suffered less chest pain and had fewer strokes.

The treatment seemed to help women even more than men. "Coronary heart disease is the most important cause of death in women and women tend to have cholesterol in this very range and they benefited spectacularly," said Dr. Eugene Braunwald of Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The latest results back up the findings of a recent Norwegian study.

"In Norway, the use of these drugs have accelerated tremendously so the results are taken seriously in that part of Europe," said Dr. Terje Perderson of the University of Oslo in Norway.

The new U.S. results impressed heart specialists at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Florida. "I think it's going to change the practice patterns of many physicians across the country," said one doctor at the meeting.

The researchers say treating 1,000 patients for five years would prevent more than 150 deaths or heart problems. Pravastatin treatment costs up to $900 a year.

The researchers say that they are not telling everyone to take cholesterol-lowering drugs. The study included only people who had already had a heart attack. But some of the doctors say that even before a heart attack, if their heart disease patients can't reduce cholesterol levels by changing their diet, they'll recommend drug treatment.

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Related Site

• West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study from the University of Glasgow

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