Elderly myocardial infarction patients benefit from 2 years of statins

The use of statins is beneficial in elderly patients after their first myocardial infarction (MI) episode, particularly if medication is sustained for at least 2 years, a recent study has shown.

Researchers retrospectively assessed 9,020 elderly patients (aged ≥65 years) who had had their first MI episode. The primary outcome of interest was a composite between recurrent MI, cardiovascular mortality and stroke, whose occurrence was evaluated according to statin medication status. All-cause mortality was a secondary outcome.

Statin medication lasting >2 years reduced the incidence of the primary endpoint as compared to no statins in the ≥80-year age subgroup (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.79, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.62–1.02). This effect was statistically significant in participants aged 65–80 years (adjusted HR, 0.62, 95 percent CI, 0.44–0.88).

Prescriptions lasting 1–2 years, on the other hand, had no such effect in both the older and younger age subgroups (adjusted HR, 0.98, 95 percent CI, 0.75–1.29 and adjusted HR, 0.72, 95 percent CI, 0.49–1.05, respectively).

Interestingly, a statin regimen administered for less than a year yielded significant benefits for those aged 65–80 years (adjusted HR, 0.80, 95 percent CI, 0.67–0.95) and ≥80 years (adjusted HR, 0.51, 0.41–0.65).

Two- and <1-year courses of statin medication similarly improved all-cause mortality rates in both the older and younger age subgroups. Regimens lasting 1–2 years were not effective.