Medicine

Fewer heart attacks, the same disability-free survival

In 9,971 Australians aged 70 and over with no heart disease, diabetes or dementia, atorvastatin cut major cardiovascular events by 30 percent over a median 5.9 years, 297 against 412 on placebo. The trial's second headline measure, survival free of death, dementia or persistent physical disability, did not move: 637 against 676, a gap it could not separate from chance.