Research backs up these claims. In a large study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers found that withdrawal of statins from elderly people receiving a variety of other drugs was linked to a higher risk of hospital admission for heart failure and any cardiovascular outcome, as well as death from any cause.
Statins are “life-saving” drugs and, according to the findings of the study, “the discontinuation of this therapy has significant effects”, said lead study author Federico Rea, PhD, a research fellow in the Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy.
The research examined almost 30,000 patients 65 years of age and older on multiple medications, often referred to as “polypharmacy”, who were receiving treatment with statins, as well as blood pressure-lowering, antidiabetic, and antiplatelet agents.
Discontinuing statins was associated with a significantly increased risk of hospital admission for heart failure of about 24 percent, other cardiovascular outcomes by 14 percent, and death from any cause by 15 percent.
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