The Study
Rosuvastatin in older patients with systolic heart failure.
This study gave one group of sick older people a pill and another group a fake pill to see if the real pill helped. It found the pill lowered bad cholesterol and made people less likely to go to the hospital, but it didn’t clearly stop heart attacks or deaths. So we know it helps a little with hospital visits, but we can’t say for sure it saves lives.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Doctors gave an old cholesterol drug to elderly people with weak hearts to see if it would help them live longer or avoid hospital visits.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 572 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Even though the drug improved blood markers, it didn't save lives — but it did help people avoid being hospitalized for heart issues, which matters for quality of life.
- 2The drug lowered bad cholesterol by 45% and inflammation by 37%, but didn't stop people from dying or having heart attacks.
- 3It did reduce hospital visits for heart problems by about 154 fewer per 1000 patients over 2.7 years.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The New England journal of medicine
Year
2007
Authors
J. Kjekshus, E. Apetrei, V. Barrios, M. Böhm, J. Cleland, J. Cornel, P. Dunselman, C. Fonseca, A. Goudev, P. Grande, L. Gullestad, A. Hjalmarson, J. Hradec, A. Jánosi, G. Kamenský, M. Komajda, J. Korewicki, T. Kuusi, F. Mach, V. Mareev, J. McMurray, N. Ranjith, M. Schaufelberger, J. Vanhaecke, D. V. van Veldhuisen, F. Waagstein, H. Wedel, J. Wikstrand
Related Content
Claims (8)
For people who have already had a heart attack or are at very high risk for one, taking statins lowers the number of future heart attacks, strokes, or other cardiovascular events.
In older adults with a specific type of heart failure, taking 10 mg of rosuvastatin daily for about 33 months led to 154 fewer hospitalizations for cardiovascular problems per 1000 people compared to those taking a placebo, even though it did not reduce deaths or major cardiovascular events.
In older adults with a specific type of heart failure, taking 10 mg of rosuvastatin every day does not lead to higher rates of muscle problems, liver enzyme increases, or kidney dysfunction compared to taking a placebo.
In older adults with a type of heart failure, taking 10 mg of rosuvastatin daily for about 2.7 years lowers LDL cholesterol by 45% and inflammation markers by 37% compared to a placebo, but this does not lead to fewer deaths or fewer heart attacks or strokes.
In older adults with a type of heart failure caused by blocked arteries, taking 10 mg of rosuvastatin daily does not reduce the combined risk of dying from heart problems, having a heart attack, or having a stroke.
In older adults with a type of heart failure, taking 10 mg of rosuvastatin daily for about 2.7 years does not change the rate of new diabetes cases or kidney function decline compared to taking a placebo.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.