New cholesterol guideline adds 21.5M statin candidates: 4 study notes

A fresh cholesterol guideline from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology now includes an additional 21.5 million U.S. adults who could benefit from primary prevention statin therapy, upending the previous 2018 standards. This shift, detailed in a study published in JAMA, stems from a new method for assessing heart disease risk. The implications are significant, as it may lead to broader statin use, which could reduce cardiovascular events but also raises questions about the long-term effects and costs of such widespread medication use.