World Heart Federation President Salim Yusuf leads Hope-3 trials on the prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
The research team from the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences have identified three simple methods to prevent heart attacks and stroke, in a study of more than 12,000 patients from 21 countries.
“These are incredibly important findings with potential for significant global impact,” said Dr. Salim Yusuf, principal investigator and executive director of PHRI. “If just 10 percent of the world’s population at intermediate risk of CVD [cardiovascular disease] is impacted, we’re talking about 20 to 30 million people who could be helped by these drugs.”
These are incredibly important findings with potential for significant global impact
Dr. Salim Yusuf, principal investigator
Three studies on the methods have been published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. Under the name of HOPE-3, or Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation-3, the studies involved 228 centres looking at the effects of the three treatments in people at intermediate risk of, but without, clinical heart disease.
The three methods examined included two forms of therapy: Statins, a group of cholesterol-lowering drugs, and antihypertensives, a class of drugs used to treat high blood pressure. In addition, a combination of statins and antihypertensives was reviewed.
Statins proved to significantly and safely reduce CVD events by 25 per cent in patients at intermediate risk without CVD.
