New role for cholesterol-lowering drugs
From New Orleans, at a meeting of the American Heart Association
Early, aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs in people who have had a mild heart attack or severe chest pain reduces the risk of heart problems in the near term, according to a new study.
Physicians have widely used a class of drugs called statins to lower cholesterol in patients at risk for heart disease. However, researchers hadn’t studied the drugs in people who have just experienced a heart attack or a bout of chest pains called angina—people who are likely to suffer additional heart problems in the next 3 to 6 months.