CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING drugs such as statins have been found to cut people's risk of stroke by nearly a third.A STUDY carried out in France found that those who take either
statins or fibrates (five participants took both) had a 30 per cent
lower risk.
Statins are the most commonly prescribed group of drugs
in the National Health Service with up to 10 million people in England
estimated to be taking them.
They are offered to people in Britain who have a 20 per cent risk of developing cardiovascular disease within 10 years.
But the study, which tracked 7500 men and women with an average age of
74 over nine years, found no association between use of statins or
fibrates and coronary heart disease.
Its authors said the
proportion of people taking cholesterol-lowering drugs - especially
statins - has increased rapidly in most high-income countries over the
past couple of decades.
They suggested that the increase could explain the 13 per cent
reduction in the incidence of stroke in the over-65s in France over the
past 10 years.
Although in France the overall risk of stroke to
the population remains low, the results "could have an important effect
on public health in other populations", they said.
Simvastatin and pravastatin were the most commonly used statins in the study, while most of the fibrate users took fenofibrate.
The research, led by the University of Bordeaux, is published in the BMJ
