Las enfermedades del corazón no las causa el colesterol

(por lo que tomar estatinas es 'perder el tiempo')

INDEPENDENT.- Prescriptions for the cholesterol-reducing drugs statins are a waste of time, a group of experts have said in controversial new research which claims cholesterol does not cause heart disease in the elderly.

An international team of scientists reviewed 19 previous studies, involving 68,000 people, and said they found no link between high levels of LDL cholesterol, the so-called “bad cholesterol”, and heart disease in the over-60s.

The study, published in the BMJ Open Journal, found that 92 per cent of people over 60-years-old with high cholesterol lived as long as, or longer than those with low cholesterol levels. In the remaining 8 per cent, no association was found.

Statins have long been prescribed as a means of reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes caused by atherosclerosis – a hardening and narrowing of the arteries, thought to be closely related to high levels of cholesterol.

The authors have called for a reevaluation of statin prescriptions, saying “the benefits from statin treatment have been exaggerated”.

But the team claims its research indicates high levels of cholesterol may even be beneficial in preventing other illnesses.

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