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Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology

Childhood statins linked to lower adult cardiovascular risk

At age 52, cardiovascular event-free proportions were 0.98 in adults treated from childhood and 0.70 in affected parents without access to childhood statins.

Paper by Sibbeliene E. van den Bosch, Luuk Bekker, Alma Revers, +2 more authorsBarbara A. Hutten · Location University of Amsterdam
Artery cross-sections show wide open passages beside a plaque-narrowed passage, with small groups of faceless people beneath them.

Our read

Interventions
Studied:
Cohort study of 526 adults with familial hypercholesterolemia and unaffected siblings
What changed:
The proportion without cardiovascular events at age 52 was 0.98 in childhood-treated adults versus 0.70 in affected parents
The catch:
Differences between generations beyond statin timing could explain the parent–offspring risk difference
In the record:
The 717th paper on statins with results in people; 1,830 on record in all. Its result on cardiovascular events agrees with 7 of 8 other findings on record; 1 found no change.
Why it’s aging research:
It studies an intervention with evidence of extending healthy life.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
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The 526 adults in this observational cohort study included 404 with familial hypercholesterolemia, an inherited condition that causes high cholesterol, and 122 unaffected siblings. Their average ages were 32.5 and 33.1 years, respectively. All had attended an Amsterdam pediatric lipid clinic as children. Researchers combined medical records with an online questionnaire.

The adults with the condition had been diagnosed and treated from childhood. Their affected parents had not had access to statins in childhood. At age 52, the proportion free of cardiovascular events was similar in treated offspring and unaffected siblings: 0.98 and 0.99, respectively. The parents’ proportion was 0.70. The proportion free of cardiovascular death was 1.0 in both offspring groups and 0.93 in affected parents.

Why it matters

Cardiovascular disease in adulthood is a concern for children with inherited high cholesterol. The authors said the findings support the long-term benefits of early diagnosis and cholesterol-lowering treatment.

Caveats

Comparing parents with offspring could not rule out differences between generations beyond the timing of statin treatment. The sibling comparison was too imprecise to rule out a meaningful difference in cardiovascular risk.

Where the evidence stands

Statins

Cells, worms or flies, mice and humans: replicated by independent labs.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

No results posted: trials that ended over a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper reporting them.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

  • 514 independent labs in 68 countries
  • 247 findings against
  • 1,526 trials, 763 with no results posted
  • Funders: National Institutes of Health and others
  • 211 of 1,935 findings with company ties
  • 448 of 1,526 trials sponsored by its developers

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