Drug reduces risk of elderly dying of heart disease

A LANDMARK clinical trial has confirmed for the first time that older people can reduce the risk of dying from heart disease by 24% by using the cholestrol-lowering medicine pravastatin.

The international trial, carried out over three years in centres in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands, also found that pravastatin reduced the risk of heart attack and stroke by 19%.

Of 5,804 people aged between 70 and 82 (2,184 people in Ireland), half were given pravastatin and the other half were given a placebo or sugar pill. There were 25% fewer deaths in the pravastatin-using group.