William Atkins
Wednesday, 12 November 2008 07:52
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 3
An international research study of over 17,000 men and women with normal cholesterol levels found rosuvastatin (often marketed as Crestor) dramatically reduced deaths from heart attacks and strokes. Should you use it? Well, read on.
The November 9, 2008 article “
Rosuvastatin to Prevent Vascular Events in Men and Women with Elevated C-Reactive Protein” appears in the journal
New England Journal of Medicine.
Rosuvastatin is a member of the class of drugs called statins. They are used to treat hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol) and other related conditions, along with helping to prevent cardiovascular disease.
The Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Company first developed rosuvastatin calcium and, thereafter, British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca marketed it under the trademarked name Crestor.
The researchers state in the abstract to their paper that:
“Increased levels of the inflammatory biomarker high-sensitivity C-reactive protein predict cardiovascular events. Since statins lower levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein as well as cholesterol, we hypothesized that people with elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels but without hyperlipidemia might benefit from statin treatment."
The researcher team was led by Paul M. Ridker. His team included Eleanor Danielson, Francisco A.H. Fonseca, Jacques Genest, Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., John J.P. Kastelein, Wolfgang Koenig, Peter Libby, Alberto J. Lorenzatti, Jean G. MacFadyen, Børge G. Nordestgaard, James Shepherd, James T. Willerson, and Robert J. Glynn.
In other words, the researchers wanted to find out if people with normal cholesterol levels could reduce their risk (and death) from major cardiovascular (CV) events such as heart attacks and strokes with the use of rosuvastatin, a specific type of statin.
The researchers studied 17,802 men and women that they considered healthy.
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