Who should receive a statin drug to lower cardiovascular risk? Does the drug and the dose of the drug matter?

As the numbers of completed outcomes based clinical trials evaluating the use of statin drugs for the management of cardiovascular risk continue to increase, it is clear that the numbers of patients that may benefit from these drugs continues to grow. The recently published studies are reviewed in this summary. The distinction is made between patients requiring either primary or secondary cardiovascular preventive management. The review identifies the increasing numbers of patients who may benefit from the use of statins as primary preventive management, and the changing concepts of the utilization of statin drugs for secondary preventive management, including the more aggressive titration of the drugs to provide incremental improvement in patient outcomes. Available data on the use of statins in the elderly patient are reviewed, and observations are made regarding the intrinsic properties and adverse effects of the drugs.