A recent study reports that people who do not have cardiovascular disease but who were at some risk for developing it, did not benefit from taking statin drugs.
Quite a bit of research has been done on statin drugs and their effects on those with cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to look at the efficacy of statin drugs for those who do not have cardiovascular disease but who are interested in preventing its development.
"This study compiled and analyzed data from 11 studies, involving 65,229 people, most 50 to 75 years old, who did not have cardiovascular disease but were deemed at moderate to high risk for it. They had been randomly assigned to take a statin or a placebo daily."
People in the study who took statin drugs ended up with lower low-density lipoprotein or LDL (unhealthy) cholesterol levels, but this did not make for fewer deaths over the four year span of the study.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/02/AR2010070204622.html?wprss