Healthy 75-year-olds who stop taking statins have a 33% increased risk of being sent to the hospital with heart and blood vessel problems, a French study has found.
The study participants had taken statins for at least two years, and were followed for up to four years. During this time, 14.3% of the more than 120,000 participants stopped taking statins for at least three consecutive months, and 4.5% (5,396 people) were admitted to the hospital for a cardiovascular problem.
While the results do not prove causation, they are consistent with the known relationship between cholesterol levels and cardiovascular risk, the researchers asserted. They estimate that among those who discontinue their statins at the age of 75 years, an additional 2.5 cardiovascular events for every 100 people will occur within four years when compared to those who continue taking their statins.
For that reason, clinicians may want to think twice about stopping statin treatment in this age group, they suggested. “To doctors, we would recommend not stopping statin treatment given for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in your patients aged 75,” reported study author Philippe Giral, M.D., Ph.D., an endocrinologist.
Among the possible reasons statin use may be stopped by either patients or their clinicians are health problems, cancer, hospital admission, and changes in daily care (such as nursing home placement or eating problems). Adverse side effects can also influence statin discontinuation.
Read the study
