Cholesterol guidelines could mean statins for more people
By Richard Knox, NPR
When sweeping new advice on preventing heart attacks and strokes came out last November, it wasn’t clear how many more Americans should be taking daily statin pills to lower their risk.
A new analysis provides an answer: a whole lot. Nearly 13 million more, to be precise.
If the guidelines were followed to the letter, about half of all Americans over 40 would be on cholesterol-lowering statins – more than double the current level.