Legacy effect of statins: 20-year follow up of the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS)

Abstract

The West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS) was a randomized, placebo- controlled, primary prevention trial of pravastatin in men aged 45 to 64 (mean age of 55 years) with no history of myocardial infarction at randomization. A total of 6,595 men, with a mean (SD) plasma cholesterol level of 272 (23) mg/dL and mean (SD) low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) of 192 (17) mg/dL were randomly assigned to receive pravastatin 40 mg daily or placebo for five years. The primary outcome was a composite of death from coronary heart disease (CHD) and nonfatal myocardial infarction. There was a 31% relative reduction in the primary outcome with pravastatin. There was similar reduction in risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction, death from CHD and death from all cardiovascular causes with no increased risk of death from non-cardiovascular causes nor an increase in incident cancers.