Statin Therapy in the Prevention of Recurrent Cardiovascular Events

A Sex-Based Meta-analysis

Archinte.jamanetwork.com: June 25, 2012

Background  The effect of statins on the prevention of cardiovascular events is well demonstrated. Whether this protective effect is equal for women and men remains less well established. Our objective was to evaluate if statin therapy is equally effective in decreasing recurrent cardiovascular events in women and men.

Data Sources  Randomized clinical trials were searched in PubMed using as indexing terms (statins OR cholesterol lowering medications) AND (cardiovascular events OR stroke OR myocardial infarction OR cardiovascular death).

Study Selection  We included randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trials evaluating statins for secondary prevention of cardiovascular events. Studies with an open-label design and observational studies were excluded. Read more