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Miami Herald
03-07-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Study: Statins could prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks, strokes
July 2 (UPI) -- Tens of thousands of people suffer needless heart attacks and strokes every year because they aren't taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, a new study says. More than 39,000 deaths, nearly 100,000 non-fatal heart attacks and up to 65,000 strokes in the U.S. could be prevented if people eligible for statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs were taking them, researchers reported Monday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Nearly half of Americans (47%) who have never had a heart attack or stroke are eligible to take statins under U.S. guidelines, researchers found. But fewer than a quarter (23%) of them have been prescribed the life-saving drugs, results show. A substantial number of heart attack or stroke survivors also aren't taking the drugs, even though all are eligible for them under U.S. guidelines, researchers said. 'These results add to a growing body of evidence that there are important shortcomings in the quality of care for common and costly chronic diseases such as high cholesterol, and that addressing those shortcomings would yield major public health benefits,' lead researcher Dr. Caleb Alexander, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 5,000 U.S. adults between 40 and 75 years of age who took part in an annual U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention health survey between 2013 and 2020. The survey included data on the people's 'bad' LDL cholesterol levels and their overall heart health risk profile. Researchers used that info to determine whether they'd be eligible to take cholesterol-lowering drugs under current guidelines. Even people who had suffered a prior heart attack and stroke -- and thus are at higher risk for a follow-up event -- aren't always prescribed statins, researchers found. Only about two-thirds (68%) are taking statins, even though all are eligible for the drugs under the guidelines, results show. Along with warding off heart attacks and strokes, properly prescribed statins also could prevent every year nearly 88,000 heart bypass surgeries and procedures to reopen blocked or clogged arteries, researchers estimated. If everyone eligible for statins took them, researchers estimate that average LDL cholesterol levels would drop sharply and the risk of heart attack or stroke would fall by up to 27%. Preventing heart attacks and strokes through cholesterol-lowering drugs also could save more than $30 billion in annual medical costs for the U.S., researchers estimate. 'Several factors account for the gaps that we document,' Alexander said. 'They include differences in clinician training, patient preferences, barriers to accessing care, financial incentives that don't always support best practices, and the difficulty of putting clinical guidelines into practice in busy, real-world settings.' Better patient education and improved screening methods could make sure the right people are taking the statins they need, researchers said. 'High cholesterol is an important chronic health condition that silently claims far too many lives -there are millions of people walking around with this condition that don't even know they have it, and then when it is recognized it too often goes undertreated,' senior author Dr. Seth Martin, a professor of cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a news release. 'Evidence-based action is critical to close the gap and prevent devastating cardiovascular events,' he said. More information Harvard Medical School has more on statins. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
UPI
02-07-2025
- Health
- UPI
Study: Statins could prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks, strokes
More than 39,000 deaths, nearly 100,000 non-fatal heart attacks and up to 65,000 strokes in the U.S. could be prevented if people eligible for statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs were taking them, researchers reported Monday. Adobe stock/HealthDay July 2 (UPI) -- Tens of thousands of people suffer needless heart attacks and strokes every year because they aren't taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, a new study says. More than 39,000 deaths, nearly 100,000 non-fatal heart attacks and up to 65,000 strokes in the U.S. could be prevented if people eligible for statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs were taking them, researchers reported Monday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Nearly half of Americans (47%) who have never had a heart attack or stroke are eligible to take statins under U.S. guidelines, researchers found. But fewer than a quarter (23%) of them have been prescribed the life-saving drugs, results show. A substantial number of heart attack or stroke survivors also aren't taking the drugs, even though all are eligible for them under U.S. guidelines, researchers said. "These results add to a growing body of evidence that there are important shortcomings in the quality of care for common and costly chronic diseases such as high cholesterol, and that addressing those shortcomings would yield major public health benefits," lead researcher Dr. Caleb Alexander, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 5,000 U.S. adults between 40 and 75 years of age who took part in an annual U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention health survey between 2013 and 2020. The survey included data on the people's "bad" LDL cholesterol levels and their overall heart health risk profile. Researchers used that info to determine whether they'd be eligible to take cholesterol-lowering drugs under current guidelines. Even people who had suffered a prior heart attack and stroke -- and thus are at higher risk for a follow-up event -- aren't always prescribed statins, researchers found. Only about two-thirds (68%) are taking statins, even though all are eligible for the drugs under the guidelines, results show. Along with warding off heart attacks and strokes, properly prescribed statins also could prevent every year nearly 88,000 heart bypass surgeries and procedures to reopen blocked or clogged arteries, researchers estimated. If everyone eligible for statins took them, researchers estimate that average LDL cholesterol levels would drop sharply and the risk of heart attack or stroke would fall by up to 27%. Preventing heart attacks and strokes through cholesterol-lowering drugs also could save more than $30 billion in annual medical costs for the U.S., researchers estimate. "Several factors account for the gaps that we document," Alexander said. "They include differences in clinician training, patient preferences, barriers to accessing care, financial incentives that don't always support best practices, and the difficulty of putting clinical guidelines into practice in busy, real-world settings." Better patient education and improved screening methods could make sure the right people are taking the statins they need, researchers said. "High cholesterol is an important chronic health condition that silently claims far too many lives -there are millions of people walking around with this condition that don't even know they have it, and then when it is recognized it too often goes undertreated," senior author Dr. Seth Martin, a professor of cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a news release. "Evidence-based action is critical to close the gap and prevent devastating cardiovascular events," he said. More information Harvard Medical School has more on statins. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
UPI
30-05-2025
- Health
- UPI
Eight times more young adults now take HIV prevention meds
More young Americans are taking antiretroviral meds to protect them from HIV infection than a decade ago. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Eight times more young Americans are taking antiretroviral meds to protect them from HIV infection than a decade ago, a new study says. About 208 of every 100,000 U.S. young adults were using pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, to prevent becoming infected with HIV in 2023, researchers reported recently in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. That's up from 26 of 100,000 who filled a prescription for PrEP pills in 2016, researchers found in their analysis of data for 18- to 25-year-olds. "This is a patient population we often neglect in health care, because we don't think about them belonging to pediatric care or adult care, and their stage of cognitive development means they underestimate their STI [sexually transmitted infection] risk in general - yet they're one of the highest risk groups for a new diagnosis of HIV," said lead researcher Dr. Nina Hill, a general internist and pediatrician at the University of Michigan Medical School. "We're encouraged to see more prescribing over time, but the question remains: are we getting it to the highest-risk patients?" Hill added in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed records on more than 1.4 million PrEP prescriptions dispensed to nearly 240,000 young adults between 2016 and 2023. The first PrEP medication, Truvada, was introduced in 2012 and became available as a generic drug in 2020, researchers said in background notes. A second oral option, Descovy, became available in 2019. The drugs reduce the chances of acquiring HIV through sex by 99%, when taken consistently as prescribed, researchers said. Nearly 9 of 10 (87%) of the prescriptions went to men, but Hill noted that some women also are at risk for HIV and could be eligible for PrEP. Unfortunately, results also showed that the length of time a person remained on PrEP declined by more than two weeks. This might indicate inconsistent use of PrEP, or show that young adults have trouble keeping up with the appointments and tests needed to continue the medication, researchers said. Nurse practitioners accounted for 39% of the prescriptions, while family doctors handed out 22% of the scrips, results show. Internists and physician assistants accounted for 14% and 11%, respectively. PrEP has been recommended since 2019 by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for teens and adults with an increased risk of acquiring HIV, researchers said. Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance programs are required to make PrEP and HIV screening available to patients at no cost. However, the ACA's preventive care provisions are now under review at the U.S. Supreme Court, and a ruling is expected soon. More information The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has more on pre-exposure prophylaxis. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Feeling extra tired? This virus could be the culprit, study suggests
People who have had COVID-19 are more likely to develop chronic fatigue syndrome, officially known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). That's according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine earlier this month, which found that 4.5% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, developed chronic fatigue. In comparison, only 0.6% of study participants who did not have COVID developed the second condition. Always Feeling Tired? Experts Share 4 Common Causes Of Daytime Fatigue The researchers determined that cases of ME/CFS were 15 times higher than pre-pandemic levels. "As a researcher dedicated to understanding how viral infections lead to chronic illness, I suspected from the beginning of the pandemic that SARS-CoV2 could trigger ME/CFS, so these results are not surprising," said lead study author Suzanne D. Vernon, PhD, from the Bateman Horne Center in Salt Lake City. Read On The Fox News App Trump's Daylight Saving Time Plan And Sleep: What You Must Know The study was part of the National Institute of Health's RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery) program, which aims to better understand, prevent and treat long COVID, according to an NIH press release. The study included 11,785 participants. At least six months after they were infected with COVID, researchers assessed whether they had developed chronic fatigue. They then compared those results to 1,439 people who did not have COVID. "There are no specific tests or biomarkers, so ME/CFS is diagnosed when someone has a constellation of specific symptoms," Vernon told Fox News Digital. "This study asked participants questions to determine what symptoms they were experiencing, which can be viewed as a limitation but is currently the approach used to diagnose ME/CFS." Dr. Kenneth J. Perry, a physician based in South Carolina, wasn't surprised by the incidence of chronic fatigue after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. "It's well-known that chronic fatigue syndrome can occur in the setting of viral infections," Perry, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital. "Given the fact that SARS-CoV-2 was a novel virus at the time of the pandemic, the incidence and prevalence of such post-infection syndromes was difficult to predict." The study does have some limitations when attempting to compare between different viruses, the doctor noted. "Patients were required to self-report their symptoms," he said. "This makes the ability to compare symptoms across viruses difficult, as the spotlight on COVID will increase the possibility of selection bias." Deep Sleep Can Keep Two Big Health Problems At Bay, New Studies Suggest It's difficult to specifically determine how chronic fatigue happens in the setting of a viral infection, according to Perry. "More studies would have to be done to determine the actual underlying pathophysiology of the disease," he said. "Given that lack of complete understanding, it is difficult to determine how to adequately prevent the syndrome." ME/CFS is a "complex, serious and chronic condition that often occurs following an infection," the NIH wrote. The condition is marked by "new-onset fatigue" that lasts for at least six months and impairs the person's ability to engage in ordinary activities. Another symptom is "post-exertional malaise," in which the person feels extreme fatigue after physical or mental activity, the study stated. People with ME/CFS may also experience "unrefreshing sleep," as well as cognitive impairment or dizziness when standing. Many of these symptoms are also associated with long COVID, the researchers wrote. "Chronic fatigue syndrome can be very problematic for patients," Perry told Fox News Digital. "There are both physical and psychological components of the syndrome." Perry reiterated that patients can experience direct fatigue and a decreased ability to do normal activities — and this can also lead to anxiety and depression due to these changes. "It is very difficult to adequately understand the difference between chronic fatigue syndrome and … underlying psychiatric/psychological health changes," he said. "This makes it a very difficult disease to explain for patients." Those experiencing symptoms of chronic fatigue should contact their primary care doctor, Perry advised. "Having a relationship with a physician who knows your baseline activity level is going to ensure an appropriate evaluation and intervention if there are any changes," he said. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter "For example, a triathlete who can no longer even stay awake through the entirety of a workday would absolutely be concerning to a physician who knows that patient well. This relationship would also allow for appropriate medications and therapies to be initiated earlier in the process." This research underscores an "urgent call to action," Vernon said — "especially to healthcare providers." "The dramatic increase in ME/CFS cases post-COVID-19 means that providers will encounter this condition far more frequently," she predicted. For more Health articles, visit The researcher called for early recognition and proper management of ME/CFS, which she said can be "life-changing" for patients. "We hope this study helps everyone understand that ME/CFS is a real and diagnosable condition that demands attention, especially in the wake of a global pandemic."Original article source: Feeling extra tired? This virus could be the culprit, study suggests
