cardiovascular disease is the leading
cause of illness and death in the United
States
statins help prevent cardiovascular
disease
in patients who have already had an
event but their use in patients who have
never had but are at risk for
cardiovascular disease remains
controversial
now the United States Preventive
Services Task Force an independent
volunteer panel of national experts in
prevention and evidence-based medicine
recommends that adults without a history
of cardiovascular disease use a low to
moderate dose statin for primary
prevention of cardiovascular disease
events and mortality
if they're between 40 and 75 years old
have one or more cardiovascular disease
risk factors
and if they have a calculated 10-year
risk of a cardiovascular event of
greater than or equal to ten percent the
Task Force says that physicians can
offer patients the option of using a low
or moderate dose statin if they have the
same risk factors but with a calculated
10-year risk of a cardiovascular event
of seven and a half to ten percent
finally they conclude that evidence is
not yet sufficient to assess the
benefits and harms of starting statins
for primary prevention of cardiovascular
disease events and mortality in adults
age seventy six years and older the
taskforce acknowledges that estimating
ten-year cardiovascular risk isn't so
straightforward the pooled cohort
equations from the 2013 accha guidelines
on assessment of cardiovascular risk is
the best currently available risk
estimation tool they say but it may
overestimate risk in some patients for
unclear reasons so they emphasize that
the risk estimate should be the start of
a conversation between doctors and
patients about their risk of a
cardiovascular event relative to the
risks and benefits of starting statins
and the patient's desires to begin
lifelong statin therapy
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