The Study
Blood-Pressure and Cholesterol Lowering in Persons without Cardiovascular Disease.
This study gave some people medicine to lower their blood pressure and cholesterol, and others fake pills, then watched who had heart problems. It found that the medicine group had fewer heart problems, so we think the medicine might help. But we can't be 100% sure because we don't know if everyone was blinded.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Doctors tested if taking three common pills together—lowering cholesterol and blood pressure—could stop heart problems in people who don’t have heart disease yet but are at moderate risk.
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 549 / 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.
- 1Yes—fewer heart problems means real benefit, even if some side effects happened.
- 2People who took the three pills had fewer heart problems than those who took dummy pills.
- 3They also felt more muscle weakness and dizziness, but didn’t stop taking the pills more often.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The New England journal of medicine
Year
2018
Related Content
Claims (3)
In people without heart disease but at intermediate risk, taking a daily pill containing rosuvastatin, candesartan, and hydrochlorothiazide lowers the number of heart-related events compared to taking a placebo.
In people without heart disease but at intermediate risk, taking a combination of rosuvastatin, candesartan, and hydrochlorothiazide causes more muscle weakness and dizziness than taking a placebo, but does not cause more people to stop taking the medication.
High levels of LDL cholesterol by themselves do not lead to the buildup of plaque in arteries or to heart disease.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.