Prevention & lipidsCohort study
Lipid-lowering drug treatment and mortality among individuals ≥75 years without cardiovascular disease: a population-based cohort study
- Population-based cohort study
- nationally representative sample
- multivariable Cox regression
Authors' conclusion
In this study population of people aged ≥75 years and without CVD at baseline, use of lipid-lowering drugs was associated with significantly lower risks of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
Study context
- Population
- US adults aged ≥75 years without cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline (nationally representative NHANES sample)
- Participants
- 6,409 adults
- Exposure
- Lipid-lowering drug users vs non-users
- Usersn = 1,227
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Users vs Non-usersAdjusted hazard ratio (95% CI)P value
all-cause mortality
0.74(0.67–0.81)
P < 0.001CV mortality
0.64(0.54–0.76)
P < 0.001- Overall survival of users longer than non-users (adjusted)
- 1.6 years
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Overall survival
- Adjusted overall survival of users longer than non-users
- 1.6 years
All-cause mortality by time after baseline
- Adjusted HR within 2.5 years
- 0.61 (95% CI 0.49-0.76)
- Adjusted HR 2.5-7.5 years
- 0.72 (95% CI 0.63-0.83)
- Adjusted HR over 7.5 years
- 0.82 (95% CI 0.71-0.94)
CV mortality by time after baseline
- Adjusted HR within 2.5 years
- 0.46 (95% CI 0.30-0.68)
- Adjusted HR 2.5-7.5 years
- 0.59 (95% CI 0.47-0.76)
- Adjusted HR over 7.5 years
- 0.78 (95% CI 0.62-0.97)
All-cause mortality by subgroup
- HRs significant in all subgroups by age (including ≥85 years), sex, self-rated health, BMI, hypertension, DM, 10-year CV risk, cancer and concurrent medications, favouring users
- HRs not significant, with wide CIs, in those without high cholesterol, with CKD or with pulmonary disease
- Similar patterns for CV mortality
Sensitivity analyses
- Consistent results with the main analyses
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Lipid-lowering drug treatment and mortality among individuals ≥75 years without cardiovascular disease: a population-based cohort study. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 29 August 2025. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf515
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it