One landmark study completed in 1994, the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study, or 4S, showed a 42 percent reduction in deaths from heart disease and a 30 percent drop in death from all causes over five years in patients with coronary heart disease whose high LDL levels were lowered with Zocor.
The West of Scotland study, reported in 1995, revealed similar benefits from lowering LDL levels with Pravachol in patients without heart disease. And the Cholesterol and Recurrent Events (CARE) study, reported in 1996, showed that lowering LDL levels with Pravachol reduced heart attacks and deaths in patients with a previous heart attack but with cholesterol levels relatively average for the general population. This study showed that Pravachol treatment not only reduced death from heart disease but also death from all causes in a group of heart disease patients with average cholesterol levels.
A 1997 study, the Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study, showed that Mevacor helped prevent a first heart attack or unstable angina in men and women with average cholesterol levels but with below-average HDL.
Statins work by interfering with the cholesterol-producing mechanisms of the liver and by increasing the capacity of the liver to remove cholesterol from circulating blood. Statins can lower LDL cholesterol by as much as 60 percent, depending on the drug and dosage.
Heart patient Norbert Hoffmann, 65, of Northfield, Minn., saw what he calls "a dramatic drop" in cholesterol levels after taking Zocor for three months. For example, his total cholesterol went from 270 to 145 mg/dL and LDL from 182 to 82 mg/dL.
But patients can respond differently to drugs. Some patients may have fewer side effects with one drug than another. "I had problems such as stomach cramps with Zocor," says Oklahoma patient Linden Gilbert, 50. His doctor ultimately switched him to Lipitor, which he credits with lowering his total cholesterol from 230 to 150 mg/dL.
(published with permission in writing from:http://www.cholesterol.tv/)
