Statins have become the miracle medicine of modern heart care, lowering cholesterol levels and and guarding against heart attacks in millions of Americans.
However, they aren't right for all patients, and some rare side effects can crop up with the meds, said Dr. Melissa Tracy, a cardiologist with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
“I have had some patients that I can get off of a statin, but it tends to be one of those agents that we use lifelong,” Tracy said in a Rush news release.heart diseaseA coronary calcium scan is a good way for otherwise healthy people to determine their heart health risk, Tracy said. It's a simple imaging test that measures the“We look to see if their coronary calcium score is zero. That's what we want,” Tracy said. “Any score above zero indicates increasing risk for a heart attack.
“I would say in our 40s and 50s, we start to respect our mortality and we want to get on the bandwagon of being healthier,” Tracy said. “And most studies on statins are also in that age group.”“One young lady is a junior in college, and her mother has elevated cholesterol. But her mother's brother has elevated cholesterol and had aScreenings for heart health risk, like calcium coronary scans, can help younger people figure out if they need to start statins earlier in life.
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