Tutorials in therapeutics : Should cholesterol level be lowered below “normal” ? insights from the heart protection study

Abstract EN

The benefits of cholesterol-lowering with statins has been established for patients with high cholesterol levels as well as for patients with prior occlusive coronary heart disease.

However, substantial uncertainty has existedabout the long-term benefits ()[these agents in certain groups, including patients with “normal” cholesterol levels pre-treatment, women, the elderly, as well as those with prior occlusive non-coronary disease.

The Heart Protection Study was designed to resolve these uncertainties and to pro-vide substantially more safety information of statins.

We present its signif icance and practical plications.