Medications

Video: Who benefits from taking statins?

If you're at risk of heart disease, your health care team might use the pooled cohort equation (PCE) tool to determine your long-term risk and whether taking statins—cholesterol-lowering medication—is a good option.

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Statin

The statins (or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) are a class of drugs that lower cholesterol levels in people with or at risk of cardiovascular disease.

They lower cholesterol by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which is the rate-limiting enzyme of the mevalonate pathway of cholesterol synthesis. Inhibition of this enzyme in the liver results in decreased cholesterol synthesis as well as increased synthesis of LDL receptors, resulting in an increased clearance of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) from the bloodstream. The first results can be seen after one week of use and the effect is maximal after four to six weeks.

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