Statins Might Pay for Themselves in a Wide Range of Patients

In the randomized, placebo-controlled U.K. Heart Protection Study, simvastatin therapy (40 mg daily) reduced the rates of myocardial infarction, stroke, and revascularization in a wide range of high-risk individuals (Journal Watch Jul 30 2002). Now investigators have conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of simvastatin therapy among the 20,000 trial participants, all of whom had vascular disease or diabetes (age range, 40–80; minimum total cholesterol level, ≥135 mg/dL; 75% male). Subjects were stratified into quintiles based on their pretreatment 5-year risk for vascular events (median, 42% in the highest quintile, 12% in the lowest).

Hospitalization costs for vascular events were significantly lower with simvastatin than with placebo. Th…