Private MD News

Statins effective in women, study finds

Category: Heart Health and Cholesterol

Most patients who receive unhealthy cholesterol test results are advised to take statin medications to lower their cholesterol levels. New research indicates that this therapy approach is equally effective in men and women.

The researchers said the findings are important because most previous studies have looked primarily at the effect of statins in men. While it has been exhaustively proven that these drugs effectively lower cholesterol in men, their effect in women is less clear. Some studies have even suggested that the medications may have no meaningful effect in women.

For the study, researchers from Columbia University Medical Center examined the results of 11 previously published investigations. While these studies primarily involved male participants, collectively they had a sizeable female population.

The results showed that statin medications reduced the risk of recurrent heart attack and stroke to a similar degree in both men and women. The findings confirm that statin medications can be an effective treatment in women who have received unhealthy cholesterol test results. This could encourage doctors to prescribe statins to women who are likely to benefit the most.