Taking statins to lower your 'bad' cholesterol by a certain amount can cut your chance of having a stroke caused by a blood clot by about 21%, and this benefit is about the same whether you're already at high or low risk for heart problems.

76

Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

76

Community contributions welcome

76

The effects of lowering LDL cholesterol with statin therapy in people at low risk of vascular disease: meta-analysis of individual data from 27 randomised trials

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

This big study found that taking statins to lower bad cholesterol by 1 mmol/L cuts stroke risk by about a quarter, no matter how high or low someone’s original risk was — which matches what the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

The effects of lowering LDL cholesterol with statin therapy in people at low risk of vascular disease: meta-analysis of individual data from 27 randomised trials

Score: 76

DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60367-5

Similar Assertions

Taking statins to lower your 'bad' cholesterol by a small amount can cut your chance of having a stroke by about a quarter—even if you're not at high risk to begin with—and it works just as well for low-risk people as it does for high-risk ones.

76

0

95%

Taking statins to lower your 'bad' cholesterol by just a little bit can cut your chance of having a stroke by about a quarter—even if you're not at high risk to begin with—and this help comes mostly from preventing strokes caused by blood clots, not brain bleeds.

76

0

94%

Taking statins to lower your 'bad' cholesterol by about 1 point (in mmol/L) can cut your risk of dying from heart problems by 12% and your overall risk of dying by 9%, without raising your risk of dying from other causes like cancer or accidents.

76

0

86%

Taking statins to lower your 'bad' cholesterol by a small amount can cut your chance of having a heart attack by nearly half—even if you're not at high risk for heart disease yet.

76

0

86%

Taking statins won’t make you more likely to have a bleeding stroke if you’re otherwise low-risk, and even if there’s a tiny chance it might, it still keeps you much safer from heart attacks and clot-based strokes.

76

0

86%