ABSTRACT
Introduction In 2003 Law and co-workers published a major meta-analysis of the effect of statins both on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and on cardiovascular out comes. Like so much of the recent statin trial evidence this provides strong support for the notion that greater clinical benefit is likely to accrue from achieving more substantial LDL-C lowering. Wald and colleagues went so far as to suggest that most atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease could be prevented with a fixed combination of statin, aspirin and angiotensin II receptor blockade. Certainly, as Green et al. point out, statin therapy has a greater potential to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) than antihypertensive medication in all but the most severe cases of hypertension. Thus, blood pressure should seldom, if ever, be treated without also prescribing a statin to lower cholesterol.
