January 28, 2024
2 minute read
Important points:
- A healthy lifestyle combined with the use of statins can increase life expectancy.
- High-risk adults who had “very healthy” lifestyles and took statins lived the most years.
The combination of statin use and a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of all-cause mortality by 30% in people at high CV risk, compared to people with an unhealthy lifestyle and not taking statins. Data shows that it is associated with a 44% reduction in
“Previous studies have investigated the effects of preventive medications and multiple healthy lifestyle combinations on health outcomes, but these studies have not targeted candidates for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. or were limited by outdated lifestyle data.” Dr. Jiapeng Lu, and colleagues from the National Cardiovascular Disease Clinical Research Center, Beijing Fuwai Hospital, China, wrote: “Our study extends existing research in several ways and has potential clinical implications.”
A healthy lifestyle combined with the use of statins can increase life expectancy.
Image: Adobe Stock
Lu and colleagues analyzed data from 265,209 adults aged 35 to 75 with no history of CVD from 2015 to 2021. All were recruited by ChinaHEART, a Chinese government-funded public health project to test and manage people at high risk of CVD. Data on lifestyle habits such as smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and diet were collected through a questionnaire survey. Researchers stratified participants into “very healthy,” “healthy,” or “unhealthy” based on lifestyle factors. Participants also self-reported statin use in the past 2 weeks. Researchers examined the association between statin use, a healthy lifestyle, and all-cause mortality risk, using participants who did not take statins and had an unhealthy lifestyle as a reference group. Participants considered to be at high risk for CVD were included in joint association analyzes of statin use and lifestyle. People with low or intermediate CV risk were included in life expectancy comparisons.
The survey results are American Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Within the cohort, 16.2% had high CVD risk and the remainder had low or intermediate CVD risk. Among those at high risk, 5.7% were taking statins. 24.7% had an unhealthy lifestyle, 47.4% had a healthy lifestyle, and 27.9% had a very healthy lifestyle.
During a median follow-up of 3.6 years, 6,979 participants died, of whom 3,236 died from CV-related causes.
Researchers found that adults who reported having very healthy lifestyles and taking statins as prescribed had lower all-cause mortality (HR = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.57-0.87) and cardiovascular mortality. (HR = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.4) found the lowest risk. -0.79) compared to non-statin users with an unhealthy lifestyle. People taking statins but living an unhealthy lifestyle did not see a significant reduction in the risk of all-cause death or death from cardiovascular disease. The results persisted in analyzes stratified by gender.
High-risk participants who took statins and lived very healthy lifestyles had the longest life expectancy of 5.9 years at age 35 (95% CI, 4.14-7.67; 95% CI, 4.14-7.67; P .001) compared to non-statin users who have an unhealthy lifestyle and are at increased risk. Additionally, high-risk people who took statins and lived very healthy lifestyles had life expectancies comparable to those with very healthy lifestyles without high risk.
“The combination of preventive medication use and adherence to multiple healthy lifestyle habits was significantly associated with lower risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality, and there were also significant life expectancy benefits.” The findings highlight the importance of combining the use of preventive medications with adherence to a healthy lifestyle to reduce mortality risk and increase life expectancy in people at high CVD risk. ”
