30 March 2005
Take heart, it's all good news
New evidence uncovered by researchers in Tayside and Bristol has shown wider benefits of
cholesterol lowering drugs for large sections of the public, including women and the elderly.
Researchers have told us for years that cholesterol lowering drugs that lower blood fat levels
provide large benefits to those who participated in clinical trails. However, the effects of these
drugs were only really applicable to the sorts of carefully selected patients who actually
participated in those trials.
The new evidence now available from a combined Tayside and Bristol research project, published this
week in the British Medical Journal, shows that these drugs provide benefits of at least an equal
level of benefit to patients groups who were excluded from the clinical trial - the old, the very
old, women and those who are unfortunate enough to suffer from a number of other pre-existing
diseases.
This is really good news for those patients because it has often been found that when taken in
general use rather than in clinical trials, medicines do not seem to work as well. This can be
because the people in the trials have been selected to be those that will benefit most or those
that will have the fewest side effects.
Professor Tom MacDonald, of the University of Dundee, the lead author of the research said "The
results of this study are very important as we know now that all patients get similar benefits to
those who were in the original studies. It is also good news for the research technique of studying
routinely collected data (in an anonymous way of course) of many NHS patients and importantly using
quality NHS data as well as being able to bring together data from a range of NHS sources. Such
research has important implications in ensuring a good risk/benefit ratio for all medicines."
The study looked at the data of nearly 5000 patients who were discharged from hospital following a
heart attack over an 8 year period. The researchers checked to see the level of cardiovascular
outcomes or deaths occurring in these patients and whether they had been treated with statin (the
name for a particular type of drug class that lowers cholesterol). Those treated with statins had
lower rates of cardiovascular outcomes and death compared to those not treated and the level of
benefit were similar across all patient groups. Additionally this research study included a far
greater proportion of women and showed they also had good results.
This research is part of an on-going series of projects being undertaken by university researchers
in conjunction with the NHS in Tayside that uses advanced methods to develop anonymous clinical
information. This ensures that the researchers can make the maximum use of such information whilst
ensuring confidentiality. Such research helps to ensure that the treatments available on the NHS
have the right balance of benefit and risk.
Contact: Professor Tom MacDonald, tel 020 8274 0520.
URL for publication:
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/bmj.38398.408032.8Fv1?ecoll
By Roddy Isles, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, r.isles@dundee.ac.uk | 
