Statins underprescribed to patients at higher risk of heart disease, Stanford ...( . Ma also noted that although...),Health

Ma also noted that although statin use is greatest among the high-risk group, physicians should be more aggressive in looking at statin therapy for moderate-risk patients. "Prevention is key for delaying the onset of cardiovascular disease. If we start intervention early enough, we can delay the progression of the disease and reduce the health-care costs overall," she said.

The study also noted that less than half of the moderate-risk patients were counseled about changes in their diet and exercise that could decrease their risk of heart disease. "Lifestyle change is fundamental not only to keep your risk for heart attacks low, but also to give you better health overall," Ma said.

The researchers are careful to point out that statins aren't appropriate for all patients. "They have to be prescribed for the right reasons and for the right groups of patients. For any drug therapy, you have to balance the risks against the benefits," Ma said, adding that physicians should categorize patients according to their underlying risk of heart attacks and then treat the higher-risk patients the most intensively.

The study was funded by an unrestricted grant from Merck Co., a pharmaceutical company that manufactures the statins Zocor and Mevacor, and by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Co-authors of the paper include Niraj Sehgal, MD, a former postdoctoral scholar at Stanford who is now an assistant clinical professor of medicine at UC-San Francisco, and John Ayanian, MD, associate professor of health-care policy and of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

'"/>

Contact: Susan Ipaktchian
susani@stanford.edu
650-725-5375
Stanford University Medical Center
30-May-2005