Statins - women

As of this writing, no study has shown statins or any other cholesterol drugs to lower overall mortality in women; and epidemiologically, cholesterol in women does not have the same relation to mortality as in men. Although higher cholesterol is linked to a higher rate of heart attacks per se, it is not linked to overall cardiovascular death or to overall death; indeed, lower cholesterol is linked to a slightly higher risk in some studies. Consistent with this, there is a decided reduction in heart attacks in women with statins, but the death rate overall -- or even cardiovascular death rate - has not been shown to be reduced. It is possible that there are subgroups of women for whom statins confer benefit exceeding risk, but this has never been demonstrated.