British Heart Foundation: statins save 10,000 lives a year in UK

The British Heart Foundation says that the use of statins is contributing to the reduction in number of people dying from heart disease in the UK. The BHF released data which indicate that statins cut the risk of coronary death by as much as 25%, saving an estimated 9,000 to 10,000 lives a year.

Roger Boyle, national director of heart disease and stroke at the UK Department of Health, said that, between 1996 and 2004, deaths from CVD fell around 36%, and that statin-based treatments were responsible for around 40% of this reduction.