Review published in The Lancet concludes that lowering cholesterol by statin therapy prevents cardiovascular events.

A review from Professor Rory Collins, Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU), University of Oxford. is published in The Lancet and concludes that lowering cholesterol by 2 mmol/L - with a low-cost statin therapy, such as atorvastatin, which costs about �2 per month - for 5 years in 10,000 patients would prevent major cardiovascular events in 1000 people with pre-existing vascular disease, and in 500 people who are at increased risk but have not yet had a vascular event.On the other hand, this would cause five cases of myopathy (one of which might progress to the more severe condition of rhabdomyolysis, if the statin is not stopped), five-10 haemorrhagic strokes, 50-100 new cases of diabetes and up to 50-100 cases of symptomatic adverse events (such as muscle pain).

"There is a serious cost to public health from making misleading claims about high side-effect rates that inappropriately dissuade people from taking statin therapy despite the proven benefits," concluded Professor Collins.

See-

"Interpretation of the evidence for the efficacy and safety of statin therapy"- Prof Rory Collins, FRS Christina Reith FRCP (Glasg.), Jonathan Emberson , PhD, Prof Jane Armitage , FRCP, Prof Colin Baigent ,FRCP, Lisa Blackwell, BSc, Prof Roger Blumenthal , MD, Prof John Danesh , FMedSci, Prof George Davey Smith , DSc, et., al. -DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31357-5.