Heart attack victims should not give up on taking statins


Heart attack victims who give up taking statins afterwards double their risk of dying in the next year. The results of an investigation using British data show that, even though the pills may appear to have failed to prevent a heart attack, it is much better to go on taking them anyway. The study, by a team from Canada (McGill) and the U.S., used data from the U.K. General Practice Research Database to assess the effects of statins - drugs that lower cholesterol levels - in patients who survived heart attacks and were still alive three months later.