Statins for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Adults: Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force

Primary Prevention in Adults > 40 Years Analyzed from Randomized Trials

By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

Many of our readers have wondered why about ~25% of adult Americans take statins. The weakest case for statins would be treatment of adults with no history of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This report from Chou et al for the US Preventative Services Task Force, historically a very conservative guidelines body, gives the evidence from 19 randomized trials involving 71,344 participants.

The results clearly demonstrated the following significant reductions after treatment for ~2 years:

• 14% reduction in all cause mortality

• 18% reduction in cardiovascular mortality

• 29% reduction in stroke

• 36% reduction in myocardial infarction