Benefits of statin use for cardiovascular disease prevention

Abstract

The objective of this review was to elucidate the importance of the use of statins in patients with risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases. This is an integrative literature review, based on a survey of articles in Scielo and VHL portal, using the databases Analysis of Medical Literature (Medline) and Latin American Literature on Health Sciences (Lilacs). The search will be limited to case series, retrospective and prospective cohort studies, and case-control studies that correlate the benefits of statins in preventing cardiovascular disease. In addition, it will also be limited to studies in human subjects, written in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, and published within the last 10 years. The benefit of statins has been proven in secondary prevention of CVD, helping to reduce the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke, but the effect in primary prevention is still much debated and has been the subject of several studies. The evidence obtained in this research shows that statins cause a decrease in mortality, proving that the cardiovascular protection provided by statins overlaps with the existence of adverse effects.