Effects of Statins for Primary Prevention in the Elderly: Recent Evidence

The number of the elderly individuals is steeply increasing, and their absolute cardiovascular risk is higher than that of younger age groups. However, very few statin trials have included elderly patients alone. Recently, we published the SCOPE-75 study, which analyzed the effect of statins for primary prevention in elderly Koreans (>75 years). In this study, statin users showed significantly fewer cardiovascular events and a lower all-cause mortality rate, supporting more active use of statins in this population. In the current review, we further compare and discuss similar studies reported in the past decades and in recent years.