Lipid lowering therapy in the elderly: is there a benefit?

The rising number of elderly people has a major impact on healthcare systems. Advancing age is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which represents a major global healthcare problem. The clinical efficacy and safety of lipid lowering treatment (especially statins) is well established following a series of large-scale, randomised controlled trials, which mainly recruited patients under the age of 70 years. Subgroup analyses together with the findings of trials involving sufficient numbers of elderly participants, such as the Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER) and the Heart Protection Study (HPS) offer a basis for considering statin therapy in this population. Furthermore, since this population is at greater absolute risk of CVD, substantial benefits from adequate treatment may be anticipated. However, underevaluation and undertreatment appear to be common in the elderly. In this review, we provide a survey of potentially modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in association with old age, and discuss the relevant findings of large-scale end-point clinical studies as well as major considerations regarding lipid-lowering treatment in this population. It is concluded that the decision whether to treat hypercholesterolaemia in the elderly is currently individualised, depending upon the degree of risk, general health, willingness to receive treatment and financial concerns. Further, prospective randomised trials are required to guide physicians towards an effective management of older individuals at increased atherosclerotic risk.