Cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins can reduce deaths from advanced heart failure by as much as 55%, according to a UCLA study published today.
The increased survival occurred even though most patients who received the statins were sicker than those who did not receive them, according to the report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
As many as 5 million Americans suffer from heart failure, which is characterized by the heart's reduced ability to pump blood around the body, with half a million more diagnosed each year. It can be caused by high blood pressure, valve disease, clogged arteries and other cardiovascular problems.
Only about a third of those patients receive statins, which suggests great potential for saving lives through wider use of the drugs.
"We're very excited about the possibilities," said Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow of UCLA, who led the study.
The statins " a family of drugs that includes Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Crestor and Lescol " are already among the best-selling drugs in the world. Their popularity stems from a remarkable ability to reduce the rate of heart attacks and strokes in people with a variety of risk factors, even if they do not have high cholesterol levels.
In addition to their cholesterol-lowering properties, the drugs have been shown to reduce inflammation, which plays a role in heart failure; protect against dilation of the heart's ventricles, which reduces pumping ability; and decrease over-activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which produces too much heart-damaging adrenaline.
But statins had not previously been tested on heart-failure patients, Fonarow said. Researchers shied away from such studies, in part, because the patients were usually already taking a variety of drugs, and researchers preferred to study new medications in patients who were taking few drugs, so that the results would be more clear-cut.
There also had been studies, conducted by Fonarow, that suggested lowering cholesterol levels could harm people with heart failure.
