Statins 'lower risk of death'

Will Dunham Washington - Cholesterol-fighting statin drugs, already known to help ward off heart attacks and strokes, may help people who have received a kidney transplant live longer, researchers said on Wednesday. The study, published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, is the latest to show that this widely used class of drugs may provide additional health benefits beyond lowering blood cholesterol levels. Researchers led by Dr Rainer Oberbauer of the Medical University of Vienna in Austria tracked 2 041 patients who underwent kidney transplants between 1990 and 2003. At the time of the operation, 302 were taking statin drugs to lower blood cholesterol levels and 1 739 were not. After being followed for 12 years, 73% of the people taking statins were alive, compared to 64% of those who were not taking... [read full story]