Coming off statins after the age of 75 increases the risk of a heart attack by nearly half, research has suggested.
Stopping taking the cholesterol-lowering drugs in old age may also raise the likelihood of a stroke by a quarter, according to the first study to assess the effectiveness of the medication in healthy pensioners.
Statins are widely proscribed to heart attack and stroke patients to reduce the risk of further problems, but scientists have debated whether older people with no history of cardiovascular disease should take them.
Researchers found people aged 75 or over who stopped taking the drugs were 46 per cent more likely to suffer a coronary event, such as a heart attack, and were 26 per cent more likely to have a stroke.
Overall, those who discontinued statin use had a 33 per cent increased risk of being admitted to hospital with heart or blood vessel problems during an average follow-up period of 2.4 years.
French doctor Philippe Giral, a cardiovascular disease specialist who led the research, said: “To patients, we would say that if you are regularly take statins for high cholesterol, we would recommend you don’t stop the treatment when you are 75.
“To doctors, we would recommend not stopping statin treatment given for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in your patients aged 75.”
The study analysed the health data of 120,173 people across France who were 75 between 2012 and 2014 and had been taking stations continuously for two years.
They assessed data from the French national health insurance claims database, information on hospital diagnoses and clinical procedures, and comprehensive details of statin use for the whole of France’s population.
“We estimated that an extra 2.5 cardiovascular events per 100 people would occur within four years among those who discontinued their statins at the age of 75 years compared to those who continued taking their statins,” said Dr Giral, of Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris.
The study, published in the European Heart Journal on Wednesday, was observational, retrospective and non-randomised study and therefore only shows that discontinuing statins is associated with heart attacks and strokes, rather than causes them.
The researchers said further, randomised studies were needed before health guidelines can be updated.
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “This study, although observational, adds to a growing body of evidence showing that statins reduce heart attacks and strokes in older people, as they do in younger people, and are safe.
“Age should not be a barrier to prescribing these potentially life-saving drugs to those people who are likely to benefit.”
