A retrospective analysis suggests that older individuals taking statins had a 25% decreased risk for death than those not taking statins.
The study included data on patients aged 75 years or older from the Veterans Health Administration who were free of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and who had a clinical visit between 2002 and 2012.
Mean follow-up was 6.8 years.
More than 57,000 patients were newly initiated statin users during the study period.
There were 53,296 reported cardiovascular deaths, with 22.6 and 25.7 cardiovascular deaths per 1,000 person-years, respectively, among users vs. non-users.
For atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease outcome, there were 66.3 and 70.4 events per 1,000 person-years, respectively, for users versus non-users.
The hazard ratio was 0.75 for all-cause mortality, 0.80 for cardiovascular mortality, and 0.92 for the composite atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events in statin users versus non-users.
In the above study it was a 25% relative reduction in all cause mortality in new Staten use use and there was a 32% reduction in mortality within the first two years.
Results of the study found the benefit of statins held true regardless of whether a person was older or younger or had a condition such as dementia.
The above is compelling argument for the use of statins for primary prevention in older patients.