Should women be offered cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease?

Yes!

NO!

MN: Whenever I write about statins, I get calls from readers that indicate many are misled about their level of risk. Typical is the healthy woman over the age of 65 pressured to take statins by her doctor who says that she is at high risk for a heart attack solely because of age and high cholesterol.

JA: 1) The evidence shows that the higher her cholesterol, the longer she will live; 2) no trial shows that statin therapy will benefit her; 3) people over 65 who exercise routinely, eat a Mediterranean-style diet, don’t smoke, drink moderately, will have a 60% lower rate of death than the people who don’t do these things.