Should Older Adults Use Statins? A Top Atlanta Longevity Doctor Answers

Should the elderly use statins? Dr. Gregory Charlop shares an exciting new study

Should people over age 80 use statins? My answer is increasingly, YES.

A recent study found that patients over 80 on statins had a one-third reduction in mortality. To put it another way, older patients on statins appeared to have about a one-third lower risk of death than similar non-statin patients during the four-year study period. Those are impressive results!

Perhaps more telling, people who stopped their statins appeared to have a 1/3 greater risk of coronary events than those who continued taking the medication.

More good news: the statin group didn’t show increased adverse events. In particular, they did not see a meaningful increase in dementia or diabetes in the statin group.

In my view, aside from exercise, you won't find many health interventions that yield those impressive results in the elderly.

Important note. This was an observational study. Therefore, we cannot conclusively prove that statins caused the benefits seen here. However, this paper adds to growing evidence that statins are useful for at-risk older adults.

Dr. Gregory Charlop here. As the leading longevity and lifestyle concierge medicine physician in Buckhead, I see heart health as a prime concern for many of my patients. They want to be healthier, happier, and more energetic in middle age and beyond. We use lifestyle medicine (which combines exercise, sleep, nutrition, deep social relationships, and select medications) to help our patients look and feel better.

Do you live in the Atlanta, Buckhead, or Alpharetta area and have questions about wellness and concierge medicine? Let’s chat.