Statins are not effective at lowering cholesterol levels in half of patients

Research shows that statins are not effective for half of the people who take them.

The largest study of its kind shows that 51% of patients fail to reach their healthy cholesterol goals after two years.

Scientists warn that personalized tips and treatments are needed alongside pills to reduce strokes and heart attacks.

In the UK, about six million adults take statins, which lower the rate of bad cholesterol and prevent the formation of fatty deposits in the blood vessels.

This bad cholesterol should be reduced by 40% within two years of starting treatment, according to health official NICE.

But data from 681 family doctors out of 165,000 British patients show that 51% missed this goal. Over a six-year follow-up period, 23,000 people developed cardiovascular disease.

Those who did not achieve the 40% reduction goal were 22% more likely to contract the disease, according to the University of Nottingham study.

Professor Metin Avkiran, of the British Heart Foundation, said it was necessary to investigate why some people did not respond to treatment.

He added, "These people may have been prescribed low-dose or low-potency statins, that they are not taking the drugs as prescribed or that they are not responding well to the type of statins prescribed to them. "