New plan to lower stroke, heart risk would double number of Americans on pills
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 Last updated: Tuesday November 12, 2013, 11:44 PM
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Associated Press
“Statins also appear to reduce cardiovascular events through stabilizing the blood vessels and preventing plaques from rupturing. We’re don’t know exactly how — they might work as anti-inflammatories,” Montgomery said. “Heart attacks and strokes are not caused just by having plaques, they happen when plaques rupture.” Dr. David Montgomery, director of cardiology at The Valley Hospital
The nation’s first new guidelines in a decade for preventing heart attacks and strokes call for twice as many Americans — one-third of all adults — to consider taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
The guidelines, issued Tuesday by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, are a big change. They use a new formula for estimating someone’s risk that includes many factors besides cholesterol, the main focus now. They take aim at strokes, not just heart attacks. And they set a lower threshold for using medicines to reduce risk.
“This is the controversy that has been going on for many, many years — some think statins should be in the water, that everyone should have them,” said Dr. Jeffrey Matican, chief of cardiology at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. “But they do have side effects, and finding that line is the art of medicine instead of the science.”
The definition of high cholesterol isn’t changing, but the treatment goal is. Instead of aiming for a specific number, using whatever drugs get a patient there, the advice stresses statins such as Lipitor and Zocor and identifies four groups of people they help the most.
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I would rather take statins then have a heart attack.