A large randomized trial has produced the first clear answer to a question millions of older adults and their doctors have argued over without evidence: whether starting a statin after age 70, in someone who has never had a heart attack or stroke, is worth doing.
The STAREE trial found that daily atorvastatin reduced major cardiovascular events by 30 percent compared with placebo in people aged 70 and older who had no known cardiovascular disease, diabetes or dementia. It did not improve disability free survival. Results were presented in a Hot Line session at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.
