Statins: Take statins at the same time every day to lower cholesterol levels

After pooling together 11 articles for the meta-analysis, an overall picture emerged.

Short-acting statins are “significantly more effective” in lowering LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) levels when they are administered in the evening, rather than the morning, the researchers found.

Long-acting statins, on the other hand, had a “nearly equivalent efficacy irrespective of timing of administration during the day, with the exception of a small but statistically significant effect” on LDL levels.

Short acting statins include pravastatin, simvastatin, lovastatin, and fluvastatin with half-lives of two to five hours.