Statins Still Beneficial in Old and Very Old Adults

A Chinese sequential target trial emulation comparing matched cohorts initiating versus not initiating statin therapy suggested benefits and safety of statin therapy in adults aged ≥75 years, even ≥85 years. The trial included persons 75 years or older who met indications for statin initiation from January 2008 to December 2015 without preexisting diagnosed cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline. Of 42 680 matched person-trials aged 75 to 84 years and 5390 matched person-trials aged 85 years or older with average follow-up of 5.3 years, 9676 and 1600 each developed CVD, respectively. Risk reduction for overall CVD incidence was found for initiating statin therapy in adults aged 75 to 84 years (5-year standardized risk reduction, 1.20% in the intention-to-treat [ITT] analysis and 5.00% in the per protocol [PP] analysis) as well as in those aged 85 years or older (ITT: 4.44%; PP: 12.50%). There was no significant increase in risks for myopathies and liver dysfunction in both age groups. The findings support using statins for primary prevention in old and very old adults. Source: https://www.acpjournals.org/