Statins and age: is there a limit beyond which primary prevention is futile?

Abstract

Hypercholesterolaemic patients at an advanced age (>75 years) with and without known cardiovascular disease are at higher cardiovascular risk than younger subjects, and the frequency of vascular events in this group of the patient increases with increasing age. However, in clinical practice, these subjects are undertreated for various reasons: conservative cultural attitude, fear of side effects, doubts about efficacy, lack of specific trials. Two recent meta-analyses have shown that the use of lipid-lowering drugs is as safe and effective in this age group as in younger subjects. Subjects aged >75 years in primary prevention are poorly represented in trials but should be considered for treatment in daily clinical practice, because, in the risk assessment (SCORE algorithm), they are very often classified as intermediate or high risk but can also be reclassified at increased risk if an additional assessment step with clinical markers (diabetes and reduced glomerular filtrate) or cardiovascular imaging is used for the detection of subclinical atherosclerosis. Greater attention to treatment methods and monitoring of possible side effects is recommended, but the only limit to the treatment is its ‘futility’ in the fragile patient.