**I;m not seeking Dr’s advice, anecdotal info is fine.
I’m looking for the oldest statin. Which one has the most long term studies done on it? Does a statin have a half-life? Can one take a statin over time. For instance, I’m in my 30’s, could I take it everyday for ever more? I have a good friend who is an upper management sales guy for Pfizer. Globally based in Connecticut, Pfizer has been spitting out drugs since the penecillin days. This chap got me wondering about taking meds for prolonged periods. He is telling me that the new mode of thought is that taking statins from an earlier age over time will greatly benefit the individual.
Can this be true? If so, what are the long term effects?
The longest-term study I could find on a statin was 10 years, for the 4S study:
Cite: Strandberg TE et al. Mortality and incidence of cancer during 10-year follow-up of the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study (4S). Lancet 2004 Aug 28; 364:771-777.
I couldn’t find info on whether they plan of continuing the study. However, this is not a study for primary prevention but patients who have coronary heart disease and high cholesterol.
You don’t say whether you’re at any particular risk. Study results for using statins for primary prevention are murky, and it seems that a lot of published claims that statins are helpful for those not at risk from heart disease have a lot of people at high risk in their patient populations.
A good review of the topic was recently published in The Lancet: “Are lipid-lowering guidelines evidence-based?”, 2007; 369:168. My impression is that there’s a lot of pressure from the pharmaceutical industry to overtstate the benefits of statins for people at low risk of heart disease. I’m sure the “mode of thought” at Pfizer is that everyone over 40 or with LDL over 70 should take them regardless. There’s really no evidence for this, though.