The heart benefits of taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs last for years, even after the drugs are stopped, finds research in New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, led by Ian Ford of the University of Glasgow, found that men who took pravastatin (sold under the brand name Pravachol, as well as generically) for five years had a lower risk of death or heart attack 10 years after they stopped taking the drug.
The researchers tracked 6,595 middle-aged men who had never had a heart attack but who had a very high average level of LDL cholesterol. Half the group took pravastatin for five years, the rest took placebo pills.
Those taking the statin had a 40 per cent reduction in the chance of heart attack or heart disease death during the study period.
The men were tracked for another 10 years after the five-year study ended. Most on the members of the statin group stopped taking the drug though some of the placebo group began to take them.
The researchers found that even 10 years later, the risk of heart attack or death from any type of heart disease was 11.8 per cent for the pravastatin recipients, compared with 15.5 per cent for volunteers who took the placebo.
"Statin treatment for an average of five years provided an ongoing reduction in the risk of coronary events for an additional period of up to 10 years," they wrote in their report.
The researchers wrote that the statin's protective effect was probably because existing plaque was stabilized and the progression of coronary artery disease was slowed.
The drug also seemed to produce no serious long-term health problems.
"There was no evidence of an overall increase in the risk of death from noncardiovascular causes or cancer, or in the incidence of cancer," the researchers wrote.
While many of the volunteers chose to stop taking the statin after the initial study ended, the drugs usually are prescribed indefinitely, especially for people with known heart disease.
The follow-up study was partly funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., the maker of Pravachol, and Daiichi Sankyo Inc., maker of the statin WelChol. All but one of the researchers reported receiving consulting fees, lecture fees or research grants from a total of five other pharmaceutical companies, four of which sell statins.
