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Lipid-lowering therapy prevents adverse outcomes in selected populations, but its potential for benefit in many high-risk groups has been unclear. Clarification now comes from the partially industry-funded Heart Protection Study (HPS).
The HPS researchers assessed the long-term effects of statin therapy and antioxidant-vitamin supplementation in 20,536 British patients (age range, 40 to 80; minimum total-cholesterol level, 3.5 mmol/L [135 mg/dL]) with coronary heart disease, other occlusive arterial disease, diabetes, or (in men older than 64) treated hypertension. In a 2x2 design, patients were randomized to receive simvastatin (40 mg daily); combination vitamins (vitamin E, vitamin C, and beta-carotene); both; or neither.
Vitamin supplement…