Is It True That I Should Start Taking The Highest Dose Of Statin Possible After A Heart Attack?

Christopher Cannon, M.D., Senior Investigator, TIMI Study Group, Brigham and Women's Hospital

December 24, 2008

Question: Is it true that I should start taking the highest dose of statin possible after a heart attack?

Answer: After a heart attack, lowering cholesterol has been seen to be very important and a way to prevent future heart attacks and even death. And so it is important to strongly control the cholesterol and get to very low levels of the bad cholesterol.

And thus, studies have been done with the highest dose of a statin. Atorvastatin in particular has had several studies that have shown to have benefit.

ABC News Photo Illustration

And so the key there is to use a high dose of medication after a heart attack to get control.

This also does apply in general to stable patients, where you want to get the cholesterol down to new low levels.

And so more and more people will be needing to take high dose statins.

Fortunately, there are large studies that have shown this to be safe, if monitored in the routine way. And so that is a important way to prevent future heart attacks.

Next: Is It True That Some Statins Are Better At Increasing Good Cholesterol Than Others?

Previous: I Have Been Taking One Of The Statins. I Heard That Other Brands Of Statins May Be Better. Is This True?